Nurses at Prime Healthcare Services Olympia Fields Hospital walked off the job at 7 a.m. Tuesday, launching a one-day strike that became part of a coordinated, multi-state labor action against the hospital chain's Illinois operations. The Olympia Fields nurses were protesting the termination of two staff members, a dispute that started as suspensions before escalating into firings.
The walkout in Chicago's south suburbs was one piece of a much larger protest. According to National Nurses United, more than 2,800 nurses and healthcare workers took part in actions across six Prime Healthcare hospitals in four states Tuesday, including sympathy strikes in Nevada and California and informational pickets elsewhere in Illinois and in Maine. The union, whose National Nurses Organizing Committee affiliate organized the Olympia Fields action, said the walkout followed union election petitions the group filed with the National Labor Relations Board on August 24.
Striking nurses planned a rally at 10:30 a.m. at the Olympia Fields site, according to CBS Chicago, whose reporting on the strike identified staffer Kyle Schutter, who warned that patients facing emergencies during the walkout could need to call 911 or travel urgently to another hospital. Health care workers from Saint Mary of Nazareth also joined the picket line in solidarity, per the same report.
A Union Drive Collides With Discipline and Firings
A Union Drive Collides With Discipline and Firings The strike traces back to disciplinary action management took just days after nurses moved to organize. The Homewood-Flossmoor Chronicle reported that six staff nurses at the hospital were suspended, and union-election petitions were filed on August 24. Nurses interviewed by the outlet also reported high patient-to-nurse ratios and dwindling medical supplies following Prime's acquisition of the hospital.
A Prime Healthcare spokesperson denied, in a statement carried by CBS Chicago, allegations that the hospital retaliated against employees for exercising their organizing rights. The company said it will continue engaging constructively with its nurses while ensuring patients and communities receive needed care.
The dispute is not isolated to Olympia Fields. Saint Francis Hospital in Evanston has also faced the firing of one nurse, and its nurses filed a union-election petition, according to National Nurses United.
Maternity Care Consolidation Adds Fuel to the Fight
Layered on top of the labor dispute is a fight over where new parents in the region will be able to give birth. St. Mary of Nazareth nurses and Olympia Fields nurses have both opposed Prime Healthcare's decision to consolidate maternal care, according to CBS Chicago's reporting. Prime announced on September 1 that it would centralize regional obstetrical services into two Centers of Excellence for Maternal Care, at Saint Mary of Nazareth Hospital in Chicago and at Olympia Fields Hospital, while pledging $1 million in community grants; the company cited low birth volumes and financial losses at three affected suburban hospitals.
Those three hospitals losing obstetric services are Saint Joseph Medical Center in Joliet, Mercy Medical Center in Aurora, and Resurrection Medical Center in Chicago's Norwood Park neighborhood, per the CBS Chicago report. U.S. Representative Lauren Underwood publicly condemned Prime's planned October 1 suspension of obstetrics at Saint Joseph Medical Center, warning that it would leave Joliet — Illinois' fourth-largest city — without a hospital baby delivery unit, according to Shaw Local. Joliet officials have also opposed the service cuts, the outlet reported.
Part of a Pattern Across Prime's Illinois Hospitals
Tuesday's walkout follows a string of labor actions since Prime expanded rapidly into the Chicago area. More than 400 nurses staged a separate one-day strike at Saint Mary of Nazareth Hospital on September 3, protesting short staffing and delayed contract negotiations following a 96% union vote in June, according to The Militant. Those nurses said a colleague was fired for trying to speak up for patients, per CBS Chicago's reporting.
Hoodline previously reported that maintenance workers also threatened a strike in June, when the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 399 delivered a 10-day strike notice covering 53 maintenance engineers across six Prime Healthcare facilities in Illinois, citing unfair labor practice charges and lost seniority protections after Prime's Ascension acquisition. Prime completed its acquisition of Ascension hospitals in March 2025, according to Prime Healthcare. The company also operates Olympia Fields Hospital in Illinois.
National Nurses United has reported unfair-labor-practice allegations at Olympia Fields and Saint Francis and union-election petitions involving the hospitals.
