NUHW members picketed Prime Healthcare’s West Anaheim Medical Center on April 22 to inform community members how the hospital’s below market wages are forcing an exodus of caregivers, compromising patient care.
Chanting “Prime, Prime you’re no good, treat your workers like you should,”and holding signs that read “Shame on Prime Healthcare” the approximately 160 licensed vocational nurses, respiratory therapists and medical technicians escalated their fight for a fair contract that will pay workers competitive salaries so that West Anaheim is safely staffed with experienced caregivers.
“We’re losing so many good caregivers who can’t afford to stay,” Grace Arrieta, a licensed vocational nurse at West Anaheim, said before the rally. “It feels like Prime sees our hospital as a profit center and is happy to churn through caregivers leaving entire departments constantly understaffed and patients struggling to get the level of care they should expect to receive at West Anaheim.”
The rally was covered by the Fullerton Observer.
Several labor and community allies also came out to support the workers, including Orange County Labor Federation Exective Director Gloria Alvarado, Santa Ana City Councilmembers Johnathan Hernandez, Jessie Lopez, and David Penaloza and Lauren Johnson Norris, who serves as executive vice chair of the Democratic Party of Orange County.
Prime Healthcare has reported a $56 million net profit operating the 167-bed hospital between 2021 and 2023, the last three years for which data is available. However, the Southern California-based for-profit hospital company pays its approximately 160 licensed vocational nurses, respiratory therapists and medical technicians at West Anaheim significantly less than workers at the next closest Prime hospital, as well as other hospitals in the region.
Keck-USC hospitals, whose caregivers are also represented by the National Union of Healthcare Workers, pay starting salaries that are on average 30 percent higher than what West Anaheim is offering for the same jobs.
Below-market pay has resulted in a turnover crisis at the hospital. In 2023, the last year for which data is available, West Anaheim lost 41 percent of its licensed vocational nurses and medical technicians — more than double the industry standard turnover rate of 18 percent for hospitals.
High turnover has resulted in lower staffing levels compromising patient care. In 2023 and 2024, West Anaheim was hit with 190 patient complaints — more than double the statewide average of 81 over that time period. Meanwhile, state regulators cited West Anaheim for 52 deficiencies over the past two years — more than double the statewide average of 21.
“We’re fighting for a contract that pays us fairly, so we have the staffing we need to provide the care our patients deserve,” said Ian Bowie, a radiologic technologist at the hospital. “The constant turnover is impacting the care our patients receive, and that’s not acceptable to us. Prime has no excuse to pay us less than our counterparts at other Prime hospitals, especially hospitals that don’t provide the same level of advanced treatment that we have at West Anaheim.”
