Dozens of nurses took to the Canal Street sidewalk outside University Medical Center New Orleans, a Tulane University-affiliated hospital, in their second strike against the hospital’s operator, Louisiana Children’s Medical Center Health, on Feb. 6 and 7.
The two-day strike was timed to coincide with the Super Bowl 59, when thousands of tourists would descend upon the city. The nurses, who joined National Nurses United in December 2023, walked out for the first time last October to protest unsafe working conditions.
The nurses provided management with warning of the strike 10 days before, as mandated by law. During the strike, patient care was minimally disrupted as LCMC Health hired temporary nurses to cover shifts during the strike.
According to National Nurses United, the major concerns during that first strike were unsafe staffing levels and dangerous conditions inside UMC. “One of the problems with not having enough staff available is it trickles down to longer wait times in the waiting room,” Heidi Tujague, an emergency room nurse and sexual assault nurse examiner, said.
When hospitals don’t have enough nurses to meet legally mandated staffing levels, they close beds, limiting the number of patients a hospital can serve.
“When we’re not able to open up all of the available spaces in the ER to treat patients because we don’t have enough nurses to staff in the ER, that’s less beds available for the patients to be seen in,” Tujague said.
Keeping nurses is another problem facing the emergency department. “Retention is a huge issue. Just in the last year, just in the ER, we’ve lost 15 nurses,” Tujague said.
Nationally, ER nurse retention is a serious issue. An annual report issued by Nursing Solutions Inc., a nurse hiring agency, found a turnover rate of 22.4% among ER nurses, the second highest among nursing specialties.
High turnover is indicative of poor working conditions and understaffing.
The nurses say management has been uncooperative. “Basically there’s been no
meaningful movement in negotiations since our last strike.” Lauren Waddel, a neurosurgery nurse practitioner and negotiator for the union, said.
“There’s a campaign the hospital is currently doing to try to decertify the union and convince nurses to vote against having it,” Terry Mogillem, a nurse in the outpatient orthopedic trauma clinic, said.
The nurses also accused management of strike busting.
“At the beginning of this year, [management] offered non-union employees better benefits like a better PTO policy and health insurance,” Hailey Dupre, an endoscopy nurse also involved in negotiations, said. Staff, with the exception of unionized nurses, have also been given free parking, an issue Dupre says the union has been fighting for.
According to Dupree and Molligem, other hospital staff have been supportive of the union’s efforts. “They know if we win those games, it benefits everyone,” said Mogillem.
During the last strike, a social media post appeared to show hospital security locking out nurses when they tried to return to work.
“We literally watched the security close and lock the doors on us. I saw the CEO in the back, just standing there watching us get the doors shut on us,” Dupre said.
LCMC Health did not respond to a request for comment and issued no statement on the strike.
Community support has bolstered the nurses’ spirits. At the picket line, passing cars honked in solidarity with the nurses and a group of high school students joined the nurses in marching in front of UMC. “We’re just thankful for the community support and online interest in our efforts because it’s what keeps the community aware of what’s going on,” Waddel said.
At the sign-making party hosted at First Grace United Methodist Church the night before the strike, spirits were high. Children were playing with their parents’ colleagues and friends excitedly greeted each other as they walked in.
It’s unclear if the strike will persuade management to take negotiations more seriously or if LCMC Health will continue to attempt to break the union. “We’re gonna keep fighting,” Waddel said.
