From hospice facilities to emergency rooms, frontline healthcare employees throughout the nation have been putting this month to protest what they are saying are unsafe affected person care circumstances and poor bargaining conduct.
Beneath are six examples of union exercise leading to a strike — all of which occurred in July.
Ascension Saint Agnes Hospital (Baltimore, Maryland)
Nurses at Ascension Saint Agnes Hospital in Baltimore are planning a one-day strike on July 24. They’re pissed off by ongoing tensions relating to staffing ranges, affected person security and excessive turnover.
This marks the primary time hospital nurses have ever gone on strike in Baltimore.
“We’re putting as a result of sufferers can not get one of the best care as a consequence of hospital administration’s staffing selections which have led to a staffing disaster,” Melissa LaRue, a nurse in Ascension Saint Agnes’ intensive care unit, mentioned in a assertion. “Throughout contract negotiations, we’ve put ahead many proposals to deal with our issues about affected person security and secure staffing. We wish Ascension to come back to the bargaining desk so we are able to attain an settlement that places sufferers first.”
Essentia Well being (Northeast Minnesota and Wisconsin)
Medical employees at outpatient amenities owned by Essentia Well being ended a 13-day strike on Tuesday. The strike concerned greater than 300 clinic nurses and 400 superior apply suppliers.
These employees went on strike to protest Essentia’s failure to barter first-ever contracts in good religion, they usually alleged illegal interference with union organizing. The strike ended after these workers reached an settlement with Essentia to renew collective bargaining below improved phrases.
“For too lengthy, outpatient care has been handled like an afterthought,” Dana Bukovich, a nurse at Essentia’s Superior Clinic, mentioned in a assertion. “We’ve made it clear that sufferers in clinics deserve the identical secure requirements as sufferers in hospitals — and we received’t cease till they get them.”
College Medical Heart New Orleans
A bunch of about 600 nurses at College Medical Heart New Orleans, which is owned by LCMC Well being, went on a two-day strike final week. The strike marks the hospital’s fourth in lower than a 12 months.
The nurses allege that the hospital has been disciplining and firing skilled nurses who’re distinguished union organizers, as retaliation for his or her union advocacy.
“Singling out pro-union nurses reveals that LCMC is utilizing self-discipline to retaliate towards us,” mentioned Dana Judkins, a nurse within the hospital’s trauma intensive care unit, in a assertion. “We’re putting to allow them to know we received’t tolerate retribution for advocating for ourselves and our sufferers.”
HealthPartners Clinic (Stillwater, Minnesota)
About 80 medical employees at HealthPartners Clinic Stillwater went on a four-day unfair labor apply strike that started July 8. These employees included licensed sensible nurses, licensed medical assistants and different service-unit healthcare employees members.
The group mentioned the primary motive for the strike was the hospital’s refusal to supply significant wage will increase.
“The wages the employer is providing us are, frankly, insulting. Even for our highest paid members, they’re speaking about will increase which might be lower than 70 cents per 12 months of their most up-to-date go. We refuse to simply accept that that is one of the best HealthPartners have to supply us. This vote solidifies that we’ve one another’s again and that we’ll stand collectively and demand higher. If we don’t get what we deserve from the employer, we’re able to strike,” Ellie Hilton, a suppliers assistant on the clinic, mentioned in a assertion.
McLaren Macomb Hospital (Mount Clemens, Michigan)
A bunch of workers at McLaren Macomb Hospital went on a three-day strike that started on July 7. The group consists of about 500 nurses, in addition to one other 200 medical assist employees members.
The employees cited power unsafe staffing ranges and low wages as their causes for the strike, together with allegations that administration was bargaining in unhealthy religion.
Hospice of Petaluma (Petaluma, California) and Memorial Hospice (Santa Rosa, California)
Medical employees at Hospice of Petaluma and Memorial Hospice, each owned by Windfall, went on a two-day strike that started July 2. The group included greater than 100 individuals — primarily nurses, dwelling well being aides, chaplains and social employees.
The employees’ important issues centered on preserving affected person caseload limits and care requirements amid Windfall’s deliberate three way partnership with non-public fairness–backed Compassus — which hospice employees worry may lower the standard of the end-of-life care they supply.
“Windfall is usually in search of to save cash on the expense of affected person care and we’re frightened that our providers shall be enormously diminished below a brand new non-public fairness operator, until we are able to enshrine protections in our union contract,” Tim Johnson, a social employee at Memorial Hospice, mentioned in a assertion.