ST. LOUIS — For 24 hours, starting Monday at 7 a.m. Saint Louis University Hospital nurses will strike for patient safety and nurse retention.
It comes after their contract expired on June 15, and a strike authorization was voted on Sept. 1 with 94% of nurses voting yes, the union said.
Jessica Tulk, a registered nurse for SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital has worked in the emergency room for the last five years. She's a mother of one and says she's tired of having to pick up extra shifts to make ends meet.
Tulk works in the SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital in St. Louis. She said, right now there are only seven nurses working during her 12-hour shift, before shortages it was 14.
"We're taking care of twice the amount of people were supposed to," Tulk said.
That's why on Sunday, Tulk put pen to paper and made signs she'll use at Monday's strike.
"A lot of these people are very unwell and they're spending longer and longer times waiting in the waiting room," Tulk said.
Most of the time, Tulk said there are 50 patients in the ER without a bed. Monday's strike will be conducted by the National Nurses Organizing Committee and National Nurses United. Tulk said beyond staffing concerns, safety also remains a top concern.
She'd like to see more weapon detection systems in the hospital.
"Within our hospital we have one and it's not deployed in the emergency department which is where a majority of patients come through," Tulk said.
Earline Shephard, a nurse of 26 years at SSM Health Saint Louis University joined Tulk Sunday, and they both want hospital officials to know this:
"I'm hopeful, I'm hopeful that SSM will come to the table and a strong contract that will take care of the nurses and the patients as well," Shephard said.
"We want to be able to do our jobs. We want to be the healthcare heroes that we were three years ago," Tulk said.
The union said at 11 a.m. Monday nurses, elected officials and community members will speak on picket lines, and the strike will go on until 6:59 a.m. Tuesday.
SLU Hospital nurses say they've presented several proposals and attempted to compromise but fault SSM for refusing to address staffing shortages and workplace violence.
SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital shared the following statement regarding the planned one-day strike:
"While we are deeply disappointed the National Nurses Organizing Committee (NNOC) has chosen to pull some of our nurses away from the bedside to participate in a 24-hour union strike – we remain committed to providing exceptional care to our patients and community.
"The team at SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital has been rallying together to support our patients and each other. We have comprehensive plans in place to ensure there is no disruption in care or service for the people and community we are called to serve. In addition to extra clinical and operational support – we have highly trained and experienced agency nurses in place to ensure uninterrupted care for our patients.
"Many of our SLU-H nurses have not elected to join the NNOC’s strike, as is their right, and remain with us at the bedside. In alignment with our Mission and Values, when the union’s strike ends on Tuesday morning, we look forward to welcoming the remaining members of our nursing team, whether they joined the strike or not.
"While NNOC strikes are intended to create tension and division within hospitals – we will continue to support our nurses, treat everyone with respect and stay focused on advancing positive solutions.
"The NNOC is well-known across the country for its highly divisive and politically motivated strategies – particularly during contract negotiations. NNOC calls more strikes than any other union representing health care workers – and routinely pickets, issues negative press releases, and attempts to publicly disparage the patient care provided at hospitals where they represent nurses. These tactics are wholly counterproductive to our efforts to continue attracting and retaining nurses to our world-class academic medical center.
"It’s also important to note that while the NNOC states that 94% of nurses voted to authorize a strike – the NNOC leaders excluded more than 40% of SLU-H nurses from voting because they refuse to pay union dues. National Nurses Organizing Committee (NNOC) and its sister organizations, the California Nurses Association (CNA) and National Nurses United (NNU) together charged nurses more than $225 million in member dues and related fees in 2022, alone. NNOC collected nearly $1.1 million from dues-paying SLU-H nurses between 2020-2022. In 2023, dues-paying nurses at SLU-H have paid an average $73.51 per month to NNOC.
"We value and respect all our talented, compassionate, and dedicated nurses and professionals who provide exceptional health care services to our patients and community every day. When the NNOC is ready to engage in bargaining, we remain committed to reaching an agreement that provides our nurses a strong, market competitive compensation and benefits package – while ensuring continued exceptional patient care and service at SLU-H."
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