1,000 Nurses to Walk off the Job at U. of I. Hospital Tuesday (Update: Strike Averted)

[Omaha Steve]

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http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/17272/nurses_ditch_scrubs_grab_pickets




UIH nurses lay down their scrubs and reach for picket signs. (ABC / Wikimedia / creative Commons)


Update: The hospital and the nurses reached a tentative agreement late Monday night, unanimously approved by the nurses' bargaining committee, and the strike was averted. The contract is still subject to ratification by the union's members.


More than 1,000 nurses at the University of Illinois Hospital and Health Sciences System (UI Health) will continue as planned with a one-day strike tomorrow, following a failed attempt by the hospital to prevent almost one-third of the strikers from walking off the job.

In a series of strike votes in early October, the nurses, represented by the Illinois Nurses Association (INA), approved a one-day strike for October 21 by an overwhelming majority of 609 to 38. The union and the hospital have been locking horns during negotiations of the nurses’ contract, which was set to expire in August but has been extended until the end of October. The strike vote was taken in response to proposals made by the hospital that the union says would endanger patient safety and nurses’ working conditions.

Hospital administrators responded by seeking an injunction against the union to prevent more than 300 of the 1100 nurses from joining the strike under the rationale that they were critical to the hospital’s functioning. On Thursday, a judge in the Cook County Chancery Division approved an injunction against 85 nurses, who will be required to report to work and perform critical services. However, the decision effectively giving 1,000 nurses the go-ahead to join the picket line Tuesday morning, constituting a victory for INA.

The strike is a culmination of more than five months of contract negotiations, during which the union says the hospital has presented proposals that would jeopardize patient safety and nurse job performance. “Voting nurses claim the hospital is seeking numerous concessions that will threaten patient care. The hospital has made it clear it intends to cut the number of experienced nurses providing direct patient care,” said Alice J. Johnson, executive director of INA, in a press release announcing the strike.

FULL story at link.