St. Johns Mercy

U.S.A. Missouri

Published

Just wondering if anyone currently works or has worked at St. Johns Mercy Medical Center. I am new to the area and wondering how it is to work there. What are the working conditions/ambiance of the staff? I heard it is the only unionized hospital in the area. Is that a good thing? How's the pay, etc... Any info would be much appreciated.

Thanks everyone for your input! I'm scheduled to have clinical at SJM in the fall, so maybe I'll get some firsthand experience to base a decision on. I'm very interested in the OR there. I really would love to do OR nursing and they have an OR fellowship that accepts new grads! Again, thanks for everyones insight!

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Specializes in ER, Flight.

Well, I hate to get started because I am not sure that I will be able to stop. Yes SJMMC is partially unionized. The nurses were divided and still are. I worked there for 10 years and coworkers were wonderful. However, administration is the most hated admin in any hospital I have ever worked in. They are viscious, vindictive, backstabbing and hate the nurses. The union has not protected any jobs. The admin is out to destroy the union and will fire anyone at anytime for any minimal infraction. They use the lack of "mercy values" as their reason. I know many excellent nurses that were fired after the union came in. I finally could no longer stand the constant stress of management and decided to hit the road and travel. It is my understanding that many of the best veteran nurses have also left in utter disgust with working conditions. I wouldn't go back there if they paid me $100.00 an hour. Nothing is worth the harassment that admin is giving the nurses. Sadly every other hospital in STL has learned from the mistakes that SJMMC admin can't seem to grasp. Due to the unionization of SJMMC, other hospitals began treating their nurses better so they wouldn't go union. I would stay as far away from St John's as possible. There are too many good facilities to work in.... why go where the headaches are??? Your choice, but from one that's been there, done that... avoid them like the plague!!!

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erased...thanks!

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Specializes in ER, Flight.

I don't know about the OR I never worked there... sorry :)

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Specializes in Med/Surg <1; Epic Certified <1.
I would stay as far away from St John's as possible.

Geeeez, that's really sad to hear. I tend to lean pro-union, particularly after reading of the (majority of) success CA had has with their unions and pt ratios, etc. I just don't understand with the huge numbers of RNs there are, why they don't have more power to enact legislation to help protect themselves and their pts.

Thanks for your info!

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Specializes in ER, Flight.

They have no pwer because they were too stupid to stand as a united front. The entire sitation at St John's was a sad one. Administration was out to break the union and many of the nurses had no backbone to stand up for what was right. Admin scared them and the broke. Now things are worse than ever. So many left there. If you go to the ER there it's so many new grads ... and for a level 1 trauma center that's a scary thing. They are trying to regroup but admin has them so afraid they won't accomplish anything again. Sad thing, the union would never have gotten in to begin with if admin would have just pretended to listen and care about the nurses concerns.

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Specializes in Med/Surg <1; Epic Certified <1.

Interesting information to keep in mind as I finish school -- and as a pt!! Thanks so much!! Take care...

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So sad, and no doubt so true. My late father(a union organizer)always said that no company should be afraid of unionization. If it treats it's employees right and with respect a union doesnt have a chance of getting in the door. I saw this at St Mary's Health Center about 10years ago. I was working as a administrative secretary there and union vote came up....you never saw administration change the way it treated it's nurses so fast...granted, they brought in consultants who told them exactly what was lacking to make the nurses consider a union to begin with(I had to sit in on those meetings and make notes due to who my boss was). But the union vote didnt pass. And a year later, when it was asked to be tried again(by a few folks)it wasnt even considered by the core of their nursing staff because the environment had changed so much. It was their wake up call & they responded BY CHANGING.

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Well, I hate to get started because I am not sure that I will be able to stop. Yes SJMMC is partially unionized. The nurses were divided and still are. I worked there for 10 years and coworkers were wonderful. However, administration is the most hated admin in any hospital I have ever worked in. They are viscious, vindictive, backstabbing and hate the nurses. The union has not protected any jobs. The admin is out to destroy the union and will fire anyone at anytime for any minimal infraction. They use the lack of "mercy values" as their reason. I know many excellent nurses that were fired after the union came in. I finally could no longer stand the constant stress of management and decided to hit the road and travel. It is my understanding that many of the best veteran nurses have also left in utter disgust with working conditions. I wouldn't go back there if they paid me $100.00 an hour. Nothing is worth the harassment that admin is giving the nurses. Sadly every other hospital in STL has learned from the mistakes that SJMMC admin can't seem to grasp. Due to the unionization of SJMMC, other hospitals began treating their nurses better so they wouldn't go union. I would stay as far away from St John's as possible. There are too many good facilities to work in.... why go where the headaches are??? Your choice, but from one that's been there, done that... avoid them like the plague!!!

Can you be a bit more specific as to just what it is that Admin does to the nurses?

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Yes, I'm curious as well. Any information would be most appreciated!:wink2:

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Specializes in ER, Flight.
Can you be a bit more specific as to just what it is that Admin does to the nurses?

Before the union was voted in at SJMMC the nurses had gone to admin on multiple occassions about working conditions and concern for pts and their nursing licenses in what they felt were unsafe staffing ratios and poor pt outcomes due to those staffing ratios. Admin made promises to all of us at that time that they didn't keep. The nurses began to rally again for a union and admin decided they would keep out the union at all costs. When the union got voted in the CEO at that time was fired and a new CEO was brought in. He was notoriously know for his union busting background and hired for that purpose. And that is exactly what he did. Admin started firing nurses that had supported the union. Those that were most vocal to other nurses, to the press etc, were fired for various bogus reasons and most won their fights in the arbitration system, but it took it's toll on them. A huge number of veteran nurses quit and went to other facilities in which they didn't have to work under the constant pressure and stress of being called in and terminated without cause.

Three years later when the contract came up for a vote the nurses voted to go on strike. The contract expired in Oct and admin kept dragging their feet in negotiations untill the bitter cold right before Christmas that year. It was freezing outside but the nurses voted to strike and manned the picket lines until they finally caved in and went back to work. Admin's promise of divide and conquer worked and nurses no longer had to join the union to work there.

It is my understanding they are coming up to vote to either disband the union, join another union or stay with the present one. It will be interesting to see what happens. The union busting CEO is no longer there since he accomplished what he was hired to do. They have another now who is also an antiunion CEO.

All I can say to anyone considering employment there is to watch your back and if you are a union supporter, keep it to yourself. Every other hospital in the St Louis area learned from the SJMMC experience except St John's. Care at SJMMC has changed so much in the process. It was the cream of the crop facility. That's no longer the case. Attitudes there are lousy, a huge number of new grads and the loss of the veteran nurses has cause a tremendous decline in the quality of care. I personally saved my dad's live twice while he was hospitalized there because the nurses didn't notice his OBVIOUS decline. If I had not come in, my dad would have died both times.

If you want to keep your nursing license, I would suggest you find another place of employment to begin your career or continue it. All I can say is run as fast as you can away from SJMMC

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I actually just accepted a position with St. John's and they just raised their base pay for RNs to $18.75/hr. They also pay 0.50 more if you have your BSN and I think they might be the only ones in St. Louis. They have really good benefits and great tuition reimbursement and loan repayment as well. I'd recommend it to anyone, the staff is great too! Also, I think the decision was just passed to have no union but I'm not positive.

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