NOLA nurses launch 4th strike at University Medical Center
New Orleans, LA – On July 15 and 16, nurses at University Medical Center struck for the fourth time in their year-and-a-half long contract battle. Workers and supporters picketed outside the hospital. They carried signs reading “UMC: Stop hurting patient advocates” and chanted “What do we want? Contract! When do we want it? Now!”
“Instead of working in partnership with us to create the best hospital that we can, they have chosen instead to gaslight us, to shame us, to disparage us, and to retaliate against us. And we are here to say, on our fourth strike: no more, it stops here,” said Mike Robertshaw. Robertshaw is a leader in the nurses’ union who was fired for his union activity.
Nurses at UMC voted 82% for a union with National Nurses United in December 2023. They’ve been demanding adequate staffing levels for improved patient outcomes. UMC continues to stall negotiations.
Nurse picket lines have been a site of unity in the city’s labor movement, drawing supporters from unionized teachers, longshoremen, federal workers, postal employees, baristas, flight attendants, Teamsters and many others.