<p>Standing in the middle of the picket line early Thursday outside St. Mary of Nazareth Hospital, Jesus Hernandez felt as if the one-day strike was already a success just an hour after it started.</p><p>Hernandez was among six nurses <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/health/2026/06/03/fired-nurses-voice-concerns-over-working-conditions-st-mary-of-nazareth-hospital-amidst-push-to-unionize-chicago" target="_blank" ><u>fired in recent weeks</u></a> just as nurses in the Ukrainian Village hospital prepared to hold an election to unionize with the National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United. In a sea of blue and red, Hernandez saw nurses he didn’t know well who joined the picket line to support them.</p><p>“I am not scared, I’m not backing down,” Hernandez said.