Nurses describe a crisis of low staff morale, say Tenet Healthcare must address their concerns in contract negotiations.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Hal Weiss, (213) 247-4585 | weissh@seiu121rn.org

August 13, 2025

INDIO, Calif. – Nurses will hold an informational picket outside of JFK Memorial Hospital on Wednesday, as contract negotiations with hospital operator Tenet Healthcare stretch into a sixth month.

Nurses say that Tenet has failed to take meaningful action to address issues they have raised at the bargaining table, including inadequate training, insufficient staffing, badly needed facility upgrades, and wages that are not competitive with other area hospitals. These issues contribute to lagging recruitment and retention in certain units, a problem the nurses seek to solve through contract negotiations.

In total, nurses report that they feel underappreciated by Tenet, a sentiment that has driven some of them to consider leaving the hospital or to leave the field entirely.

“Our morale has been plummeting for years, and Tenet seems unconcerned” said Tracy Pryor, an Operating Room nurse who has worked at JFK for nearly 28 years. “If things continue this way, we won’t have that next generation of nurses to give patients the compassionate care they deserve at JFK. Tenet can still turn things around, if they will work with us.”

Training periods for new nurses that were cut short during the COVID-19 pandemic were never restored after the emergency, nurses say. Insufficient on-the-floor orientation increases the risk of errors and negatively impacts their ability to provide safe patient care.

“At JFK, new nurses tell us they lack sufficient training, and veteran nurses feel undervalued,” said Leo Perez, President of SEIU 121RN. “Yet, their employer profited $3.2 billion last year. Something is wrong with that equation. Tenet has the resources to address their nurses’ concerns.”

Tenet Healthcare, which operates 65 hospitals throughout the country, projected $4.5 billion in earnings for 2025 on its July earnings call. Tenet is the fifth-largest hospital system in the country, and among the most profitable according to analyses by KFF and Beckers Hospital Review.

Last year, Indio Voters passed measure AA, a Tenet backed-ballot initiative which extends the hospital system’s lease on nearby Desert Regional Medical Center by 30 years. The lease agreement also requires Tenet to make significant investments in both facilities—including an expansion of the emergency room at JFK. Nurses say no specific plans for those improvements have been shared with them other than the employer’s public statement before the ballot measure passed about their commitment to expand the Emergency Room at JFK for the community of about $60M, which the community needs.

Nurses say that instead of working proactively to address issues through the negotiations process, Tenet has canceled recent bargaining sessions and refused to return to negotiations because members engaged in a work action prior to the start of negotiations on June 19, 2025. Instead of negotiating to address concerns about their employment, they have published a series of internal letters to staff criticizing the nurses and their union. Nurses say the hospitals’ campaign is simply a union-busting tactic, designed to intimidate and divide them.

Arianna Salcido, an RN in the Emergency Department, is confident such tactics will fail.

“Tenet is bent on trying to divide nurses from their union,” Salcido said. “What they don’t realize is that we are the union. We are the ones who care the most about the patients, and we aren’t going to back down.”

WHO:   JFK Memorial Hospital Nurses, represented by SEIU 121RN, will march and rally in front of the hospital, joined by community supporters and local elected officials.

WHEN:  Wednesday, August 13, 6:00 p.m to 8:00 p.m. (Program with speakers at 6:30 PM and 7:30 PM)

WHERE:       JFK Memorial Hospital 47111 Monroe St, Indio, CA 92201              

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SEIU Local 121RN represents more than 11,000 registered nurses and other healthcare professionals in California. This member-led organization is committed to supporting optimum working conditions that allow nurses to provide quality patient care and safety.