Registered nurses at six Tenet Health hospitals in California, including three in the northern San Joaquin Valley, expect to go on a one-day strike on Thursday as they seek better wages and staffing conditions.
Doctors Medical Center in Modesto, Emanuel Medical Center in Turlock and Doctors Hospital of Manteca are being targeted by the nurses, who are represented by the California Nurses Association and National Nurses United.
“For nurses and other workers, some of the power that we have is the power to stand together,” said Kristi Carson, an emergency department nurse at the Modesto hospital and a member of the union’s negotiating team. “A one-day strike is a way to let our employer know that we stand together and won’t back down until we get a fair contract.”
Other Tenet hospitals in California that are subject to the strike notice are in San Ramon, Palm Springs and Joshua Tree. In a press release, the union reported that nurses unanimously voted in early September to authorize a strike.
The union presented its strike notice to Tenet on Oct. 20, allowing management to arrange for alternative plans for patient care on the strike day.
At 461 licensed beds, Doctors Medical Center in Modesto is the largest of the Tenet-owned or leased hospitals in California targeted for the Oct. 30 strike. Emanuel Medical Center in Turlock has 209 beds, according to the company, while Doctors Hospital of Manteca has 73 licensed beds.
In a statement provided to the Central Valley Journalism Collaborative, the Central Valley Doctors Health System – the division of Tenet that operates the three hospitals – said the hospitals “will remain fully operational during the strike.”
CNA represents 1,235 registered nurses at Doctors-Modesto, 400 at Emanuel-Turlock and 200 at Doctors-Manteca. The union represents about 1,265 other nurses at the Tenet hospitals in San Ramon, Palm Springs and Joshua Tree.
Carson said in a telephone interview that the previous three-year contract between the nurses’ union and Tenet expired at the end of June. She added that while negotiations began in February in hopes of having a new contract in place before the old one expired, “we have made very little ground in the nine months that we’ve been bargaining.”
Carson said she has worked at Doctors Medical Center for five years, and previously spent four years as a nurse at the Turlock hospital, for a total of nine years with Tenet.
The issues identified by the union, in addition to wage increases, include guaranteed coverage for meal and rest breaks, improvements to recruitment and retention of experienced nurses, hiring dedicated staff to assist nurses in lifting and turning patients, and what the union described as “safe staffing” levels at all times among nurses and support staff to assure patient care.
“We’re fighting for dedicated break nurses” to cover meal and break periods for nurses who sometimes go without meal breaks and few bathroom breaks throughout a 12- to 13-hour shift, Carson said. Also, she added, more competitive wages would help retain experienced nurses and recruit new nurses.
In its press release, the union accused Tenet of “prioritizing profits over patients” and asserted that “we continue to lose experienced nurses to other area hospitals, which jeopardizes our ability to provide safe patient care.”
In its 2024 financial statement filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Texas-based Tenet reported owning or leasing 49 hospitals nationwide at the end of 2024, down from 61 at the end of 2023. The company’s operating revenues were reported at $20.6 billion in 2024, with net income of just over $4 billion.
Tenet’s total expenditures for salaries, wages and benefits in 2024 amounted to just over $8.8 billion, down from $9.1 billion in 2023.
In a prepared statement, Tenet said the company has been “negotiating in good faith with the union to reach a new contract” and had proposed mediation to resolve differences.
“Rather than engage in productive mediation and negotiations, the union provided us with its intention to strike,” the Tenet statement added.
The company said it will be ready to resume negotiations following the strike.
Carson said that she and other members of the nurses’ bargaining team traveled last week to southern California to negotiate with Tenet representatives, but added that the visit was fruitless as the company’s officials refused to meet with them.
Carson said Monday that the union is open to taking the issues to a mediator, “whatever it takes to bring them to the table and bring home a fair contract.”
Earlier this month, about 31,000 nurses and other workers at Kaiser Permanente hospitals, clinics and medical offices in California and Hawaii went on a five-day strike before agreeing on Oct. 19 to return to the negotiating table. More than 500 Kaiser Permanente facilities were affected, including sites in Fresno, Bakersfield and other San Joaquin Valley locations.
Tim Sheehan is a senior reporter and Health Reporting Fellow with the nonprofit Central Valley Journalism Collaborative. The CVJC fellowship is supported by a grant from the Fresno State Institute for Media and Public Trust. Contact Sheehan at tim@cvlocaljournalism.org.
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