Long Beach Medical Center and Miller Children’s & Women’s Hospital have activated plans to continue providing essential health care services; secured replacement nurses to ensure hospitals can stay open
LONG BEACH, Calif., – May 22, 2025 – In preparation for the California Nurses Association (CNA) strike scheduled for today, May 22, Long Beach Medical Center and Miller Children’s & Women’s Hospital have secured a five-day contract for travel nurses to ensure safe, uninterrupted patient care.
“Despite CNA’s decision to strike, our hospitals will remain open to serve the community, and patients will continue to receive needed care,” said Stephanie Garcia, MSN, RN, TCRN, Vice President, Operations. “When the union chose to walk out, we took action to ensure uninterrupted care – which requires securing contracts for replacement nurses. As is typical for these type of staffing arrangements, the contract for these qualified temporary registered nurses requires the hospitals to commit to a minimum five-day work schedule for the replacement staff. The union’s leadership was well aware of this standard industry practice, and the implications, when it made the decision for its members to strike.”
The hospitals’ leadership team has put together a comprehensive strike plan to ensure adequate staffing and support for the emergency department, critical care units and the trauma center. “We have a trusted nursing agency partner that will provide us highly qualified and experienced replacement nurses. We will continue to provide emergency and critical care services. To minimize disruption to care and allow staff to focus on essential services, we have rescheduled elective procedures during the strike,” says Garcia.
The union delivered the strike notice following only 15 bargaining sessions with representatives of the hospitals, and without either party declaring an impasse in negotiations. By comparison, in the last two contract negotiations between the hospitals and CNA—both of which successfully concluded in an agreement without a strike being called—the negotiating teams held 42 and 21 bargaining sessions, respectively, before an agreement was reached.
“We are extremely disappointed that the union has chosen this damaging course of action,” says Garcia. “We still believe the best path to a fair and equitable contract is through continued dialogue at the bargaining table—not on the picket line. We remain ready and committed to returning to negotiations and focusing our efforts on reaching resolution.”