Union

Sunrise employees voted to unionize in 2024, rallying for better pay and better working conditions

Nearly 300 healthcare professionals at Sunrise Hospital voted to unionize on Friday, January 17, 2024, marking the biggest successful union election at a Nevada hospital in recent history.

A group of 275 speech therapists, pharmacists, occupational therapists, social workers and other healthcare professionals voted to join SEIU Local 1107.

The employees at Sunrise Hospital are currently fighting for fair pay and better working conditions. They are dealing with a "crisis of severe turnover and burnout."

Sunrise employees are asking HCA Healthcare, the owner of Sunrise Hospital, to "Put Patients Over Profits."

As Senator Bernie Sanders said, in his letter in support of the employees at Sunrise Hospital:

"Let's be clear, HCA  is not a poor company. It is not going broke. Last year, HCA made nearly $5.8 billion in profits and spent $6 billion on stock buybacks to make its wealthy shareholders even richer. If HCA can afford to pay its CEO $23 million in compensation and $6 billion on stock buybacks, it can afford to treat all of its workers with the respect and dignity they deserve."

In 2025, Sunrise employees and elected officials worked hard on Senate bill 182, the hospital safe staffing bill, sponsored by State Senator Rochelle Nguyen.

The bill was passed by the state legislature, but it was ultimately and wrongly vetoed by Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo. The veto was denounced by thousands of Nevada nurses, nursing assistants and healthcare workers.

It is important to note that Lombardo set a new record in 2025 for the most vetoes issued in a single legislative session, with the first-term Republican rejecting 75 bills.

"Improving access to quality healthcare and rebuilding a robust healthcare workforce are goals that, until now, Governor Lombardo claimed to share with us. But when it came down to it, the governor chose to side with the healthcare CEOs and big corporations that lobbied against our bill. Apparently for Lombardo, campaign cash speaks louder than the voices of nurses, healthcare workers and our patients."

Nevada healthcare workers vow to hold Lombardo accountable with a massive voter mobilization effort.

UPDATE (October 6, 2025): The union and employees reached a contract agreement with HCA Healthcare on October 6, 2025. It will be a nice pay increase for the employees, but it will do nothing to improve patient care. The culture has been ingrained for too many years, and a pay increase will not change the culture.