Hundreds of USC Keck nurses preparing to strike on Thursday

Hundreds of unionized Keck Medicine of USC nurses will walk off the job and onto the picket lines Thursday amid contract talks.

The 1,800 registered nurses from facilities across Los Angeles County that are expected to participate include: Keck Hospital of USC, USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, USC Arcadia Hospital and USC Verdugo Hills Hospital in Glendale.

"We are the frontline nurses of Keck Medicine of USC, caring for patients from across Los Angeles and beyond -- your friends, your family, your neighbors, your loved ones, " Jeong-A Cha, a Keck USC registered nurse, said in a statement.

"Every day and every night, we give our hearts, our skill, and our strength to heal our community," Cha said. "But today, we are being asked to jeopardize the very lives we swore to protect. Keck USC nurses are working under unsafe staffing conditions that violate the most basic standards of patient care."

The nurses are members of the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United union (CNA/NNU), which said labor talks are ongoing, but have not yielded results or adequate progress.

Keck Medicine officials said its facilities "will remain open and fully staffed with doctors, nurses and all other clinical professionals" during the strike, "as we continue our commitment to exceptional patient care and safety."

"We pride ourselves in consistently upholding state-required nurse staffing ratios," Keck officials said in a statement. "Importantly, our current contract proposal includes an increase in resource staff so nurses can more properly rest and recharge during their shifts.

"We remain committed to negotiating in good faith and look forward to collaborative discussions with CNA to reach agreements that are fair, provide competitive pay and benefits, and reflect our dedication and support of our staff."

The lack of resource nurses at USC Keck and USC Norris has resulted in more than 10,000 missed meal breaks and 4,000 missed rest breaks in 2024. As of July 2025, RNs have missed 4631 meal breaks and 2210 rest breaks.

“The break relief situation is currently very dire, with nurses working up to 10 hours without a break to use the restroom or drink water,” said Rudy Cuellar, RN in the Cardiothoracic ICU at USC Keck and member of the bargaining team. “Adequate staffing of resource nurses would correct this problem, but management has been unwilling to provide the adequate staffing of resource nurses that would correct this problem. As a result, they are compromising our ability to provide excellent patient care.”

In a statement from CNA/NNU, they said resource nurses provide support and assistance to other nurses on a unit, including patient care and admissions, discharges, and training. Because they are not assigned patients during their shift, resource nurses can help fill in staffing gaps. A lack of resource nurses at USC Keck and Norris has left many nurses without the appropriate breaks to rest and refuel during their 12-hour shifts.

“Staffing policies are stretching nurses too thin and shortchanging patients of the high-quality care they deserve,” said Gina Vergara, RN in heart and lung transplant ICU at USC Keck and member of the bargaining team. “We know that USC Keck and Norris has the resources to provide all nurses with the staffing and the support we need to appropriately care for our patients. We’re striking to demand patient safety, along with respect and fairness, which we haven’t seen at the bargaining table.”

Additional reporting by City News Service.