ST. LOUIS — SSM Health St. Louis University Hospital nurses returned to the picket line rain or shine following months of failed contract negotiations. On Wednesday, nurses chanted "Hey, hey, ho, ho, safe staff is the way to go." Nurses will carry out the strike for 48 hours.
Nurses were on the picket line Wednesday until 5 p.m. and Dec. 28 from 7 a.m. - 2 p.m. They're striking to call attention to the outsourcing of nurse jobs through travel agencies, low nurse retention and reporting of incidents, which they said compromise safety among several other concerns.
Nurses said they would continue the strike until Friday, Dec. 29th at 6:59 a.m.
The National Nurses Organizing Committee (NNOC) and National Nurses United (NNU) voted by an overwhelming majority to authorize a strike at the beginning of December.
Sarah DeWilde, a nurse at the hospital serving on her union's bargaining team, said the union's demands are simple.
"There's an easy fix, finish the contract," DeWilde said. "Get people the money, safe staffing, quit outsourcing and get these nurses what they deserve."
SSM Health released the following statement in response, saying in part:
"Calling for yet another work stoppage demonstrates clearly where NNOC's priorities are – and it's not taking care of our nurses or patients. The NNOC's self-serving tactics are wholly counterproductive to our efforts to continue attracting and retaining nurses to our world-class academic medical center."
Marchelle Vernell, a former chief nurse representative for the union, said she wants better for the healthcare workers.
"I am here in support of my brothers and sisters who are not on their first strike but their second strike. [We're] asking SSM to stand up and do what’s right!" Vernell said.
Earline Shephard, a nurse in the cardiac catheterization lab, said she's 1 of 2 people who manage dozens of patients in her unit.
"I'm not sure what it will take, I think heart. I think [SSM Health] needs to think about the patients, think about the nurses," Shephard said.
DeWilde said the ball is in the hospital's court.
"We're still waiting to hear back from SLU … we've given them dates on when we're available and they said we'll see you in January," DeWilde added.