Shasta Regional nurses strike for fair contract, safe staffing levels and improved patient care

Dozens of nurses stood outside of Shasta Regional Medical Center in the drizzling rain today to strike, most wearing red and holding picket signs. They were protesting hospital management and Prime Healthcare — the company that owns Shasta Regional — for what nurses described as their refusal to agree to a fair contract.

Registered nurse Michelle Gaffney, who works in the intensive care unit at Shasta Regional and is a union representative of California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, said before the strike that contract negotiations with hospital management started last year and that management hasn’t been receptive to the nurses’ demands. 

Specifically, the nurses are pressing for safe staffing levels and improved patient care, she said, adding that there’s been issues with recruiting nurses and retaining experienced ones due to working conditions and a lack of a strong contract. She said these issues create concerns about overall patient safety.

Gaffney added that having a strong union contract can help prevent retaliation when nurses speak out about poor conditions. 

“We’ve done what we could, but management has not been receptive to that, and so now we’re having to strike to pressure them to come back to the table,” she said. 

The strike is only intended to last for one day, and it started around 6 a.m. this morning. Nurses gave over a week of notice to the hospital to ensure that alternative plans could be made to provide patient care. 

A hospital spokesperson said Shasta Regional bargained in good faith with the unions representing nurses and staff, but that despite “significant investments and continued efforts to reach an agreement,” the unions proceeded with a strike. 

“This decision is particularly concerning given the extraordinary demands currently being placed on healthcare providers,” the spokesperson said.

The strike comes as Shasta County, along with several other rural areas of California, faces a long-term lack of health care providers, something that led to county Health Officer Dr. James Mu declaring a public health crisis more than a year ago.

Shasta Regional is owned by Prime Healthcare, which is a large for-profit company that owns 55 hospitals across 15 states. Several other hospitals owned by the company are also striking today, announced the labor union California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, an affiliate of National Nurses United.

Gaffney explained that the policies made by Prime are similar across hospitals, and that having multiple strikes in one day helps show solidarity and how issues are prevalent in more than just one hospital. 

“Because we are dealing with a large corporation,” she said, “one small voice is not nearly as powerful as the unity across multiple facilities.”

Cathy Kennedy, who recently retired from being a registered nurse for 46 years, drove from Sacramento for the strike. She’s the president of the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee and a president of National Nurses United. 

She emphasized Prime Healthcare’s billions of dollars in revenue, claiming that the company places profits over patients and health care workers. 

“We’re trying to say to them, ‘You need to put those resources back into the hospital, into the workers, so that we can provide the care that we need for our patients because they deserve it,’” she said at the strike. 

Kennedy also pointed out that California mandates hospitals to maintain nurse-to-patient ratios, adding that if there are nurse shortages, it’s not because there’s a decline in the number of nurses available to work, but that hospitals aren’t doing enough to retain them. According to Bureau of Labor Statistics data, there are more than a million registered nurses with active licenses who weren’t employed as RNs as of May 2025. 

“Nurses will come back if the hospitals provide them with the resources that they need,” Kennedy said.

A hospital spokesperson said in a statement yesterday that several proposals presented to nurses during negotiations, included wage increases and comprehensive benefits. 

“These investments reflect our commitment to recognizing and rewarding the dedication of our nursing professionals and staff,” the spokesperson said without responding to questions about how management plans to address the nurses’ other concerns. The hospital spokesperson emphasized that the facility will remain fully open and appropriately staffed to ensure patients continue to receive care while the strike takes place. 

Gaffney, the ICU registered nurse, said she wasn’t just striking for herself and other nurses at the hospital, but also for the community. 

“We just want to make sure that our community knows that this fight is for them, as well,” she said. “This goes beyond just what is affecting nurses. … We are members of this community. We choose to stay and care for our families, our neighbors, everyone else that’s here. That’s the reason why we’re speaking up.” 

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