HJNO Jul/Aug 2026

HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF NEW ORLEANS I  JUL / AUG 2026 41 Orleans recently, including the dockwork- ers’strike in 2024, when cargo operations at the docks were affected in NewOrleans. The Starbucks workers went on strike recently. So, it’s there; it’s just not as well-known. There was a hotel worker strike in Hous- ton. That was close, but not really here in Louisiana. But there have been some other big Southern strikes that are just not as well- known. AT&T Southeast workers, includ- ing workers in Louisiana, also had a strike in 2024, but there have been a few others around here. They’re just not as widely pub- lished. As far as the education in the hospi- tal, once we organized and had that vote, we started having meetings on a regular basis with the nurses, educating them on the purpose of the union and what our fight is about, asking for their feedback on what’s going on in their individual units, and what they could see as changes that could poten- tially happen being organized. Editor What should hospital executives across Louisiana learn fromwhat happened at UMC if they want to avoid reaching the point of repeated strikes? Tujague That unions are not there to hurt them. Unions are known to increase reten- tion and improve recruitment into the hos- pital. They have been known to improve morale, patient safety, and working condi- tions for nurses. And when working directly with a union, the hospital will benefit from cost-saving measures by not having to con- stantly train new nurses because they’re hemorrhaging staff on a regular basis. Editor Is the staff hemorrhaging more because of the nature of the work at UMC? Was that always there? It’s a difficult hospi- tal. It’s more of a safety-net hospital, right? Tujague It is a critical access — well, not labeled as a critical access, but being a Level 1 trauma center. Prior to the LSU sys- tem closing down, the Charity system clos- ing down, nurses would work for Charity hospitals for the life of their career, and we want that to happen again. Since the private-sector partnership with the Char- ity system, things have gone in a different direction. Nurses will come for their one or two years, sometimes three or four. It’s very rare to see someone more than 10 years in the hospital, and then they leave to move to a better-paying job or somewhere with a little less stress. Editor What was the difference in the mindset at Charity versus UMC? Tujague It was about taking care of the patient and not about the bottom line. Editor So where do negotiations stand at this time? Tujague We’re back in negotiations on [June 25–26]. We’re getting close. The hospital has come in and said that they’re ready to get this done. We’ve said we’ve been ready to get this done for the past two years. We’re still deciding on different points of the con- tract, trying to come to decisions on some very important subjects. So, we’ll have to wait and see how it goes next week. Editor We go to press at the end of the month. I’d like to be able to write what happened. Do you think it would be signed on the Friday or Thursday or Friday? Do you have the power to do that? Tujague It depends. When the hospital comes back and says — Lucy Diavolo, National Nurses United This is Lucy. Just to briefly jump in and explain the process: If we do reach a deal, it would go to a ratification vote for the nurses at the hospital. So once the nurses’ bargain- ing team and the hospital bargaining team agree to the full terms of a full contract, all of the eligible nurses have the opportunity to vote, like Heidi said, so every nurse at the hospital who’s nonmanagerial will get the chance to look at the contract, have conver- sations with the nurses from the bargaining team and folks from our union to talk about what’s in the contract, and then everybody gets a chance to vote yes or no on the con- tract, and if it’s a yes, then the contract takes effect. And if it’s a no, then we go back to bargaining and try to get to a contract that the nurses approve by a majority. Editor Are the issues at UMC unique? Tujague No. I was able to go to Tennessee last year and speak with nurses from across the country who have been following our campaign. I met a nurse from Florida who’s had similar issues that we’ve had with staff- ing around emergency preparedness and hurricanes and the snowstorm last year. We’re able to share some of our common goals and our problems that we’ve been having. I was able to use some of the stuff that they were talking about and bring it back during our fight and sit at the table and use those resources that they gave as examples. Editor Is there a magic wand that could be waved to improve this? Tujague Well, I will say that some of the big- gest struggles we’re having right now with retention are the stalled wages at the hospi- tal. Our as-needed PRN nurses have not had a raise in over 10 years. Our nurses with over 20 years of experience are capped out and told, “This is the maximum you’re going to receive.” So, as cost of living increases, the wages aren’t increasing. We have new grads who are coming out of school trying to balance their life with paying back the student loans they took out in order to finish nursing school, and possibly trying to get that first house they want to achieve, and struggling to be able to afford all of that with the salary they’re being offered. Our nurses are actually taking cuts to their benefits to have an increase in their