University of Illinois nurses plan weeklong strike at UI Health starting Aug. 19
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Hundreds of nurses at UI Health plan to go on a weeklong strike later this month, amid a contract impasse as they demand increased staffing and improved safety measures.
More than 1,300 University of Illinois nurses represented by the Illinois Nurses Association voted last week to authorize a strike at the Near West Side hospital.
On Friday, the union announced the nurses plan to stage a weeklong unfair labor practices strike from Aug. 19 through Aug. 25. Their current four-year contract with UI Health expires on Aug. 18.
"UIH nurses sacrificed their health and their family time to save lives, fight COVID spread and treat Chicago's most vulnerable patient community over the past few years. Over that same time they have experienced understaffing, workplace violence and a loss in purchasing power thanks to the record inflation of recent years," the union said.
The Illinois Nurses Association said they've seen a large rise in assaults on staff at UI Health in the last four years. The union said they are demanding safer working conditions, increased staffing, and higher pay, and have offered a number of proposals in an effort to reach an agreement on a new contract, but management has responded to only a handful, and most of them have been rejected or ignored.
"Instead, UIH leadership has put forward their own proposals that dangerously combine multiple specialties into larger and less specialized pools and subordinate charge nurses' decision making to a computer program," the union said in a statement.
Elizabeth Flores, a nurse at UI Health for 40 years, said she has contracted COVID-19 multiple times at work over the last few years, and that long COVID has left her with chronic health problems, but "I have been appalled to hear at the negotiating table that management of this hospital won't agree to language that allows me to wear the kind of PPE that would make me feel safe at work."
A spokesperson for UI Health said the hospital is disappointed the nurses have notified them of plans to strike, but said "we remain committed to maintaining all critical operations of the University of Illinois Hospital & Clinics during a potential work stoppage."
"We believe that much can be resolved through further dialogue and have scheduled additional negotiation sessions with the INA and the assigned federal mediator Aug. 14-16. We are hopeful that the INA will agree to schedule additional negotiation sessions to reach agreements that are beneficial to both parties," UI Health spokeswoman Francesca Sacco said in an email. "We value the critical role our nurses and other health care professionals play in fulfilling our mission to provide vital care for our community. Should a work stoppage occur, we have comprehensive plans in place, including a process to secure nursing agency staff, to ensure ongoing operations and safe patient care at the University of Illinois Hospital & Clinics."
More than 800 of the approximately 1,400 nurses who work at University of Illinois Hospital and its clinics went on strike for seven days in September 2020 over a contract dispute. All of the nurses had planned on joining the strike, but a judge ordered more than 500 who work in critical care units could not walk off the job, because it would present a danger to the public.
Days after that strike ended, and following months of contract negotiations, they reached a deal on a four-year contract that expires Aug. 19.