ST. LOUIS — Registered nurses at SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital voted to give the union's bargaining team the ability to call a strike.
According to a press release from the National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United, the bargaining team could announce a strike if "management fails to resolve key issues RNs have been raising in contract negotiations, including outsourcing of nurse jobs."
If the nurses call a strike, they would give a 10-day notice to the hospital.
“Outsourcing is not a solution to the staffing crisis,” Sarah DeWilde, RN in the medical-surgical unit at SLUH, said in the press release. “Temporary, outside agency staff should only be used to fill occasional gaps, not to replace full-time union nurses, who are necessary for continuity of care and mentorship of new staff."
The announcement is the latest labor action by nurses at the hospital. In September, nurses staged a 24-hour strike to demand better pay, safer working conditions and improved staff retention.
In July, nurses picketed outside the hospital to draw attention to “unsafe working conditions and more violence among patients and their families” because of the staffing shortages.
Nurse Hadas Becker in July said traveling nurses are coming in to help, making up to three times more than local staff.
"They don't know our systems. They don't know our doctors. They don't know where things are and we spend a lot of our time having to help them out and we want core staff that knows what we’re doing," she said.
National Nurses Organizing Committee has represented the nurses at St. Louis University Hospital since 2012.
SSM provided the following statement:
"At SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital (SLU-H), 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. We have been in negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement with National Nurses Organizing Committee (NNOC), the union representing registered nurses at SLU-H, since May 11. Despite our continued efforts to bargain in good faith and reach a strong contract that supports our nurses, NNOC has repeatedly shown they are not equally engaged or motivated.
"On Oct. 26, the NNOC made its first new offer on wage scales in more than two months of negotiating. We welcomed NNOC’s engagement and quickly responded with another new offer hoping to jump-start the process. Since then, we’ve been making progress with back-and-forth proposals until NNOC unexpectedly canceled our Nov. 29 bargaining session. We then offered to meet on Dec. 1, but NNOC turned us down. NNOC leaders have agreed to meet again on December 12 – but apparently prefer to spend this past week focused on another strike vote rather than continue working on a contract.
"We are disappointed the NNOC has voted to authorize another strike rather than focus on progressing negotiations. This only further delays both parties being able to get back to the bargaining table to reach a strong market-competitive contract for our valued nurses. It’s also important to note the union did not allow all represented nurses to vote. They again chose to exclude more than 40% of SLU-H nurses, who refuse to pay union dues, from voting. The NNOC also did not release the total number of nurses who did vote.
"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.
"We are working hard to reach an agreement with NNOC that provides our SLU-H nurses with a strong, market-competitive compensation and benefits package – while ensuring continued exceptional patient care and service at our hospital. However, it is clear NNOC is more focused on their national political agenda than reaching an agreement for our nurses.
"We remain frustrated that SLU-H nurses must continue to wait for NNOC to engage in serious bargaining, but we can’t do this alone. Negotiations can only progress when both sides are equally engaged and motivated. SLU-H nurses are our priority, and we will continue to negotiate for what they deserve."