ST. LOUIS — Over the weekend, Saint Louis University Hospital nurses voted in favor of a strike as several of them say they are not being heard by SSM Health leaders.
They’ve been without a contract since June.
Nurses say staffing shortages at SLU Hospital are already at the point where it's tough to dedicate the appropriate amount of time to each patient and something has to change.
National Nurses United Union Steward at SLU Hospital Sarah DeWilde said they want a new union contract that focuses on safety.
“A lot of the nurses that you see that have left the bedside, leave because it's not safe and they want to be able to go home to their families knowing that, 'hey, I'm going to be OK. And this job itself isn't going to take me out with it,'” DeWilde said.
Nurse Rachel Williams says because they are short-staffed they’re working a lot of overtime and also taking on a lot more patients.
“If you have six patients that's 10 minutes each that you have with those patients, that's not enough. That's not fair to them, their families or any of it,” Williams said.
DeWilde says in this new contract they want to see more education opportunities, a raise and ultimately more staff to name a few things.
“If I'm safe, I know that my patient and all the other ones are going to be safe. So there's evidence that says if you're if you have more bodies on the unit, if you have more people looking out for other people, you're going to be safer,” DeWilde said.
Williams says they truly don’t want to go on strike but are running out of options.
“That's not what's best for our patients. But if that's what we need to do to be heard and let them know that, hey, we're serious, help us help them. We are the ones dealing with the patients. We are the ones at the bedside. We have that expertise. Listen to us,” Williams said.
5 On Your Side reached out to SSM for a statement and have not heard back on the Labor Day Holiday.
The nurses say they have another meeting this Thursday with hospital leaders to see what can be done and may pursue a strike if they can't come to an agreement.