ST. LOUIS — Saint Louis University Hospital nurses went on strike for 24 hours for better safety measures and higher staffing levels.
This is the first SLU nurses strike in the history of the hospital.
The National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United will lead the strike. Nurses, elected officials and community members had a rally on the picket lines at 11 a.m. Monday. The strike will go on until 6:59 a.m. Tuesday.
St. Louis Board of Alderman President Megan Green and other leaders attended in support.
Ten days before the strike, the St. Louis Board of Aldermen voted in favor of a resolution that supports the union nurses at SLU Hospital in "their campaign for safe staffing and working conditions" and "urges SSM to negotiate in good faith to swiftly reach an agreement with National Nurses Organizing Committee that recognizes the essential work of registered nurses."
The board also "urges SSM to report on efforts to hire and retain registered nurses and report back on a regular basis, at least once every 30 days.
SLU Hospital nurses said they've presented several proposals and attempted to compromise but fault SSM for refusing to address staffing shortages and workplace violence.
Union nurses gave the hospital a 10-day notice about the strike.
SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital said it had plans to ensure there was no disruption in care. Agency nurses would fill the gap, according to SSM Health.
"Since August 29, the NNOC has declined to respond or counter our proposals on key wage issues," read an SSM Health statement Friday. "Negotiations can only make progress when both sides are motivated and engaged. Rather than focus on bargaining, the NNOC has now announced it will pull nurses away from patient care to participate in a 24-hour strike at the hospital set to begin at 7 am.. on Monday, Sept. 25."
SSM Health said NNOC strikes are "intended to create tension and division within hospitals" but SSM Health is committed to supporting nurses and focusing on positive solutions.
In a Monday statement, SSM Health also shared, "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."
The nurses' contract expired on June 15.
A strike authorization was voted on Sept. 1 with 94% of nurses voting yes, the union said.
Sarah Dewilde is a SLU nurse and on the negotiating committee.
Dewild said, "Nurses have been without a raise since 2022 because we were supposed to get a contract and a raise. I want patients to be taken care of and I want to be safe here. Every week I struggle with the potential of getting harmed, getting yelled and screamed at. It's on the regular, we’re done. We’re tired of it."
Nurses Hadas Becker and Maddi O’Leary voiced the same concerns.
Both said the job can be dangerous at times.
Becker shared, "I was assaulted in this hospital. They got to do more to increase patient safety and staff safety. The current conditions aren’t acceptable for most nurses, that’s why no one is staying. In the last two years, they hired 1,600 nurses but we have a 30% vacancy rate. They’ve hired enough nurses twice over but they don’t stay because of the ongoing working conditions."
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