From hospice facilities to emergency rooms, frontline healthcare staff throughout the nation have been hanging this month to protest what they are saying are unsafe affected person care situations and poor bargaining habits.
Under are six examples of union exercise leading to a strike — all of which occurred in July.
Ascension Saint Agnes Hospital (Baltimore, Maryland)
Nurses at Ascension Saint Agnes Hospital in Baltimore are planning a one-day strike on July 24. They’re annoyed by ongoing tensions concerning staffing ranges, affected person security and excessive turnover.
This marks the primary time hospital nurses have ever gone on strike in Baltimore.
“We’re hanging as a result of sufferers can’t get the perfect care because of hospital administration’s staffing selections which have led to a staffing disaster,” Melissa LaRue, a nurse in Ascension Saint Agnes’ intensive care unit, stated in a assertion. “Throughout contract negotiations, we’ve got put ahead many proposals to deal with our considerations about affected person security and secure staffing. We wish Ascension to return to the bargaining desk so we are able to attain an settlement that places sufferers first.”
Essentia Well being (Northeast Minnesota and Wisconsin)
Scientific staff at outpatient amenities owned by Essentia Well being ended a 13-day strike on Tuesday. The strike concerned greater than 300 clinic nurses and 400 superior follow suppliers.
These staff went on strike to protest Essentia’s failure to barter first-ever contracts in good religion, they usually alleged illegal interference with union organizing. The strike ended after these workers reached an settlement with Essentia to renew collective bargaining beneath improved phrases.
“For too lengthy, outpatient care has been handled like an afterthought,” Dana Bukovich, a nurse at Essentia’s Superior Clinic, stated in a assertion. “We’ve made it clear that sufferers in clinics deserve the identical secure requirements as sufferers in hospitals — and we received’t cease till they get them.”
College Medical Middle New Orleans
A gaggle of about 600 nurses at College Medical Middle New Orleans, which is owned by LCMC Well being, went on a two-day strike final week. The strike marks the hospital’s fourth in lower than a 12 months.
The nurses allege that the hospital has been disciplining and firing skilled nurses who’re distinguished union organizers, as retaliation for his or her union advocacy.
“Singling out pro-union nurses reveals that LCMC is utilizing self-discipline to retaliate in opposition to us,” stated Dana Judkins, a nurse within the hospital’s trauma intensive care unit, in a assertion. “We’re hanging to allow them to know we received’t tolerate retribution for advocating for ourselves and our sufferers.”
HealthPartners Clinic (Stillwater, Minnesota)
About 80 scientific staff at HealthPartners Clinic Stillwater went on a four-day unfair labor follow strike that started July 8. These staff included licensed sensible nurses, licensed medical assistants and different service-unit healthcare employees members.
The group stated the primary motive for the strike was the hospital’s refusal to supply significant wage will increase.
“The wages the employer is providing us are, frankly, insulting. Even for our highest paid members, they’re speaking about will increase which are lower than 70 cents per 12 months of their most up-to-date cross. We refuse to simply accept that that is the perfect HealthPartners have to supply us. This vote solidifies that we’ve got one another’s again and that we are going to stand collectively and demand higher. If we don’t get what we deserve from the employer, we’re able to strike,” Ellie Hilton, a suppliers assistant on the clinic, stated in a assertion.
McLaren Macomb Hospital (Mount Clemens, Michigan)
A gaggle of workers at McLaren Macomb Hospital went on a three-day strike that started on July 7. The group consists of about 500 nurses, in addition to one other 200 scientific assist employees members.
The employees cited persistent unsafe staffing ranges and low wages as their causes for the strike, together with allegations that administration was bargaining in dangerous religion.
Hospice of Petaluma (Petaluma, California) and Memorial Hospice (Santa Rosa, California)
Scientific staff at Hospice of Petaluma and Memorial Hospice, each owned by Windfall, went on a two-day strike that started July 2. The group included greater than 100 individuals — primarily nurses, house well being aides, chaplains and social staff.
The employees’ major considerations centered on preserving affected person caseload limits and care requirements amid Windfall’s deliberate three way partnership with non-public fairness–backed Compassus — which hospice staff worry might lower the standard of the end-of-life care they supply.
“Windfall is commonly searching for to save cash on the expense of affected person care and we’re anxious that our companies will probably be tremendously lowered beneath a brand new non-public fairness operator, except we are able to enshrine protections in our union contract,” Tim Johnson, a social employee at Memorial Hospice, stated in a assertion.
