Union activity in healthcare in 2025 has included more than three dozen reported strikes as of Dec. 2.
Thirty-eight strikes reported by Becker’s Hospital Review this year:
Note: This article was created Feb. 20 and last updated on Dec. 2.
1. Members of the United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals concluded their three-day strike Nov. 29 at San Diego-based Sharp HealthCare. The strike involved a unit of 5,700 registered nurses at Sharp HealthCare and a second unit of 127 healthcare professionals — including pharmacists, occupational therapists, physical therapists, medical social workers, registered dietitians and speech-language pathologists — who work at Sharp Chula Vista (Calif.) Medical Center.
2. Members of the Oregon Nurses Association began an open-ended strike Dec. 2 at Legacy Emanuel and Legacy Good Samaritan medical centers in Portland. The ONA represents about 140 adult specialty APPs, including nurse practitioners, physician associates, certified nurse midwives and clinical nurse specialists.
3. Nearly 40,000 workers at the University of California system held a two-day strike in November. The walkout included members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents service workers and technicians such as custodians, food service workers and patient care assistants.
4. Members of the Maine State Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee began a two-day strike Nov. 18 at Houlton Regional Hospital. The union represents 55 nurses at the hospital, according to MSNA/NNOC. Houlton Regional has about 400 employees total.
5. Nurses at University Medical Center New Orleans, represented by National Nurses United, began a three-day strike Nov. 11 — the hospital’s fifth since October 2024. The union represents 600 nurses at the hospital. University Medical Center, part of LCMC Health, employs 2,779 people and has been in negotiations with the union since March 2024.
6. Primary care and urgent care providers represented by Doctors Council at clinics operated by Minneapolis-based Allina Health went on strike Nov. 5. The 600-member union includes physicians, physician assistants and nurse practitioners. Allina operates 12 hospital campuses, more than 60 primary care clinics, 20 same-day and urgent care centers, and has 27,865 care team members.
7. Members of the California Nurses Association went on strike Oct. 30 at six Tenet Healthcare hospitals in California: San Ramon Medical Center; Doctors Hospital of Manteca; Doctors Medical Center in Modesto; Emanuel Medical Center in Turlock; Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs; and Hi-Desert Medical Center in Joshua Tree. The union represents about 3,100 nurses at the facilities, according to a news release. Dallas-based Tenet employs approximately 100,000 workers across its facilities nationwide.
8. Members of the California Nurses Association went on strike Oct. 30 at Keck Hospital of USC and USC Norris Cancer Hospital in Los Angeles. The union represents more than 1,400 nurses at the two hospitals and select clinic locations, according to a statement from the health system. Keck Hospital and USC Norris are part of Keck Medicine of USC, the University of Southern California’s medical enterprise.
9. Tens of thousands of Kaiser Permanente workers across multiple states concluded their planned five-day strike Oct. 19. Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser welcomed back approximately 30,000 employees represented by the Alliance of Health Care Unions who returned from the strike.
10. Members of Hawaii Teamsters Local 996 began an open-ended strike Oct. 17 at Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children in Honolulu, part of Hawaii Pacific Health. It is the second strike the hospital has faced in two years, according to Hawaii News Now.
11. Members of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 39 began a two-week strike Sept. 29 at Providence Santa Rosa (Calif.) Memorial Hospital and Petaluma (Calif.). The union represents almost 20 nonclinical facilities caregivers at the two hospitals.
12. Hundreds of healthcare workers across multiple Kaiser Permanente facilities in Northern California went on strike Sept. 8. The strike involved more than 600 nurse midwives and nurse anesthetists across more than 20 hospitals.
13. Nurses at Henry Ford Genesys Hospital in Grand Blanc, Mich., have been on strike since Sept. 1. The strike involves members of Teamsters Local 332, which represents 750 nurses and case managers at the hospital.
14. Members of SEIU 1199NE at Care New England’s Butler Hospital in Providence, R.I., ratified a new four-year labor contract, ending Rhode Island’s longest hospital strike. The news came after the hospital and union reached a tentative agreement earlier in August.
15. Members of the California Nurses Association held a one-day strike Aug. 12 at Prime Healthcare’s West Anaheim Medical Center. The strike involved more than 360 nurses at the hospital.
16. Clinic nurses and advanced practice providers at Duluth, Minn.-based Essentia Health — all members of the Minnesota Nurses Association — announced plans to end their strikes on July 22 and July 23, respectively. The strikes involved more than 300 clinic nurses, surgery center nurses and hospice healthcare workers, along with more than 400 advanced practice providers.
17. Hundreds of unionized employees at UC San Diego Health and San Francisco-based UCSF Health held strikes, protesting recent layoffs. The strikes took place on July 22 and July 25, respectively.
18. Nurses at University Medical Center New Orleans, represented by the National Nurses Organizing Committee, an affiliate of National Nurses United, began a two-day strike July 15 — the hospital’s fourth in less than a year. The union represents approximately 600 nurses at the hospital, according to NNU.
19. Members of SEIU Healthcare Minnesota & Iowa began a four-day strike July 8 at HealthPartners Clinic Stillwater (Minn.). The union represents more than 80 workers in roles such as licensed practical nurse, certified medical assistant and other service-unit healthcare positions in the family medicine, OB-GYN, pediatrics and specialties departments, according to an SEIU news release.
20. Members of OPEIU Local 40 began a three-day strike July 7 at McLaren Macomb, a 288-bed tertiary teaching hospital in Mount Clemens, Mich. The union represents 700 nurses and support staff at the facility, according to ABC affiliate WXYZ.
21. Providence workers began a two-day strike July 2 at Hospice of Petaluma (Calif.) and Memorial Hospice in Santa Rosa, Calif. The action marked their first-ever strike.
22. The National Union of Healthcare Workers ended an open-ended strike June 30 at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland (Calif.) and its satellite clinics, according to a union news release shared with Becker’s. The decision came after U.S. Chief District Judge Richard Seeborg denied their request for an injunction to stop the planned integration of the hospital with San Francisco-based UCSF Health.
23. Members of the Office and Professional Employees International Union Local 40 went on strike June 9 at Henry Ford Rochester (Mich.) Hospital. The strike, which involved approximately 350 nurses, according to the hospital, ended at 6:59 a.m. EDT on June 14.
24. Members of Service Employees International Union Wisconsin began a five-day strike May 27 at UnityPoint Health-Meriter in Madison, Wis. Union members voted to ratify a tentative agreement and returned to work on June 1.
25. Registered nurses at MemorialCare Long Beach Medical Center and Miller Children’s and Women’s Hospital in Long Beach, Calif., and Alhambra (Calif.) Hospital Medical Center went on strike May 22. The one-day strike involved nearly 200 nurses at Alhambra Medical Center and nearly 2,200 nurses at the Long Beach facilities, according to the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United.
26. Approximately 1,000 members of the Service Employees International Union 1199NW and the Union of American Physicians and Dentists began a five-day strike May 12 at PeaceHealth Medical Group clinics and Bellingham, Wash.-based PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center. The strike involved service, technology and laboratory caregivers, as well as advanced practice clinicians, such as physician assistants, according to a statement from the health system shared with Becker’s.
27. Approximately 2,400 mental health workers ended a strike that began Oct. 21, 2024, after reaching a tentative labor contract with Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente. The agreement covers members of the National Union of Healthcare Workers in Southern California.
28. Members of the University Professional and Technical Employees and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees unions held a statewide strike May 1 across University of California campuses, hospitals and laboratories, including Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The strike involved 19,201 UPTE-represented healthcare, research and technical employees and 36,683 AFSCME-represented university service and patient care workers. The May 1 strike follows previous statewide strikes by the unions in February and April.
29. About 55,000 Los Angeles County workers, including certain healthcare employees, began a two-day strike April 28. The strike involved workers represented by Service Employees International Union 721.
30. Members of the National Nurses Organizing Committee, an affiliate of National Nurses United, held a third strike at University Medical Center in New Orleans. The union represents nearly 600 nurses at the hospital.
31. Healthcare workers at Santa Clara County (Calif.) hospitals and public health labs held a three-day strike March 24-27. The strike involved nearly 200 members of Engineers and Scientists of California of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers Local 20.
32. Members of SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania began a five-day strike Feb. 17 at Geisinger’s Luzerne County facilities in Pennsylvania. The strike involved 800 nurses from Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., as well as Geisinger South Wilkes-Barre, a campus of GWVMC, and Geisinger Healthplex CenterPoint in Pittston, Pa. The union and hospital reached a labor agreement in April.
33. Healthcare workers at Santa Clara County (Calif.) hospitals and public health labs held a three-day strike March 24-27. The strike involved nearly 200 members of Engineers and Scientists of California of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers Local 20.
34. Members of Service Employees International Union Healthcare Pennsylvania began a five-day strike Feb. 17 at Geisinger’s Luzerne County facilities in Pennsylvania. The union represents 800 nurses from Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., as well as Geisinger South Wilkes-Barre, a campus of GWVMC, and Geisinger Healthplex CenterPoint in Pittston, Pa.
35. Nearly 5,000 employees across 11 bargaining units — including nurses at eight Providence hospitals in Oregon, as well as some physicians at Portland-based Providence St. Vincent Medical Center and the Providence Women’s Clinic — went on strike Jan. 10. The strike ended in February.
36. Members of the National Nurses Organizing Committee, an affiliate of National Nurses United, began their second strike Feb. 5 at University Medical Center in New Orleans. The strike lasted two days. The union represents about 600 nurses at UMC, who also went on strike in October.
37. Members of the California Nurses Association in San Joaquin County’s health system held a one-day strike Jan. 17. The union represents more than 1,000 registered nurses countywide, including public health and county jail nurses, and RNs at San Joaquin General Hospital in French Camp, Calif., according to a Jan. 15 CNA news release.
38. Members of the SEIU Healthcare Minnesota & Iowa began an open-ended strike in Deer River, Minn. The 49-day strike concluded in January after the union reached an agreement on behalf of 70 staff members at Essentia Health-Deer River and the nearby Essentia Health-Homestead nursing home.
