Union nurses to protest in St. Louis over donations and Catholic health care

Nurses with National Nurses United plan to protest in St. Louis on June 3, beginning with a demonstration outside the district office of U.S. Representative Wesley Bell. The union says nurses are calling on Bell to return campaign contributions from Palantir and American Israel Public Affairs Committee, and to refuse future contributions from those groups.

After that protest, nurses plan to gather outside the 2026 Catholic Health Assembly. According to the union, the action is intended to press Catholic health care executives to do more to serve the common good. National Nurses United said the protest follows the release of a new report examining troubling trends in pediatric unit closures at major hospital systems, especially large Catholic chains.

The union said nurses will use the St. Louis protests to raise concerns about the effect of those closures on vulnerable patients and communities. It also said the same hospital chains are involved in destructive union-busting, adding another reason for the demonstration.

The first protest is scheduled for Wednesday, June 3, at 3:15 p.m. outside the Wesley Bell St. Louis district office at 1191 Dr. M.L. King Dr. The second is scheduled for 5:15 p.m. outside the Marriott St. Louis Grand at 800 Washington Ave., where the Catholic Health Assembly is being held.

“Nurses take action every day to take care of our patients,” said Sandy Reding, an operating room nurse at Bakersfield Memorial Hospital in California, president of CNA/NNOC, and vice president of NNU. “We’ll be protesting in St. Louis to demand the same kind of action from elected officials and health care executives.”

National Nurses United cited recent analysis from the Economic Policy Institute saying that U.S. employers spend more than $1.5 billion annually on union busting. The union said its largest affiliate, the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, represents around 25,000 nurses at Catholic hospitals in the United States.

NNU describes itself as the largest and fastest-growing union and professional association of registered nurses in the United States, with more than 225,000 members nationwide. Its affiliates include the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, DC Nurses Association, Michigan Nurses Association, Minnesota Nurses Association, and New York State Nurses Association.