Last week I posted a video breaking down NYSNA's finances. Hundreds of you asked me to do the same for UNAC/UHCP.

So I did.

I posted the UNAC/UHCP breakdown yesterday. Most of you came with real questions. A smaller group came ready to fight. I want to be straight with both.

The Numbers

UNAC/UHCP represents about 40,000 healthcare workers in California and Hawaii. In 2024 they collected $52.6 million in dues. In January 2026, 30,000 of those members went on strike at Kaiser Permanente for four weeks. It was the largest nurse strike in US history.

When it was over, members got $0 in strike benefits.

I pulled their LM-2 filing. Every union has to file one with the Department of Labor. It is public record. Here is where the money went.

A few things stood out.

The highest paid person was not even an officer. A Rep Director named Debra Jo Sung made $307,528. More than the union president.

Over $3.8 million went to hotel conventions. The Westin Bonaventure in LA cost $2,016,328 for one convention. The Hilton San Diego cost $1.4 million. The Sheraton Universal cost $355,000.

And $7.7 million went straight to their parent union AFSCME every year. That money does not come back.

Meanwhile here is what nurses actually lost during those four weeks.

No strike fund existed. Members had never voted to create one.

What the Comments Are Teaching Me

The video has only been up for one day and the feedback has already pushed me to sharpen a few things.

Some members pointed out that the LM-2 totals include more than just base salary. They can include allowances and other payments. That is fair and I will be more precise going forward.

Others explained that a strike fund requires a member vote. UNAC had not been on strike in over 40 years so members never voted to create one.

I get that.

But here is my question. Why was it never put to a vote? Leadership knew contract talks were coming. The strike did not sneak up on anyone. There was time to have that conversation with members. It never happened.

That is the gap.

What I Want to Be Clear About

I support unions.

Unions are the reason California nurses earn $70 to $150 an hour while nurses in some states earn $28 to $35. That difference is life changing. It changed mine. Monica and I left New York specifically because of what union contracts in California made possible.

Asking where dues money goes is not anti-union. It is pro-member. The people paying $253 to $2,171 a year deserve to know what that money is doing.

What Should Change

Unions should bring the strike fund question to a vote before the next contract cycle. Not after a strike starts.

Members should get a plain language financial summary every year. Not a government filing most of them do not know exists. One page. Here is what we collected. Here is what we spent. Here is what we saved.

Big spending like $3.8 million on hotel conventions should be easy to explain to members who just lost $11,000 on a picket line.

This is not radical. It is basic accountability.

One More Thing

Several people said I was paid by Kaiser to make this video.

I built this channel because too many nurses have no idea what they are worth or where their money goes. Hospitals benefit when nurses stay quiet about money. I built a business so they do not have to.

If you want to read the filing yourself go to dol.gov and search UNAC/UHCP. Everything in the video came straight from that document.

Knowing your numbers is the only real protection you have. Whether that is knowing where your dues go or knowing what you could be earning somewhere else, the information matters.

If you want to see what nurses are actually taking home after taxes and cost of living in your city, that is what Map My Pay was built for. And if you are ready to make a move, the Nurses to Riches Accelerator is the roadmap.

See you next week.

Jason

If you're a nurse:

If you're not a nurse:

Got thoughts? Hit reply—I read every email. And if you know a nurse who needs to hear this, forward it to them.

— Jason

You can keep hoping conditions improve.
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