University of Chicago strike vote

[nitenurse2]

Today the University of Chicago Rns are outside braving the cold to take a strike vote. The hospital advertising Nursing at the Forefront, but does not respect the nurses enough to give them a room in the hospital for a vote.

Ucmc management proposes increasing rotating shifts, cutting differentials and increasing health care premiums. We are fighting for safe staffing and nurse/patient ratios. Management has no interest in our proposals.

We won't be intimidated. The safety of our patients and nurses is on the line.

[JBudd, MSN]

Kudos and good luck!

[herring_RN, ASN, BSN]

Nurses' union votes to strike if negotiations fail

Strike vote passes by overwhelming majority.

Jan 30, 2015

According to Cindy Loudin, the Labor Representative for the National Nurses Union (NNU), approximately 95 percent of voters were in favor of the strike. A date for the strike has not yet been set; Loudin said that negotiations between the two parties are ongoing.

The nurses' vote to strike comes in the wake of ongoing contractual disputes between the UCMC and the NNU.

Bargaining continues tomorrow, and I hope that through this vote, management has heard our message loud and clear,” Loudin said.

In an e-mailed statement, UCMC spokesperson Lorna Wong characterized the strike vote as a premature” move that runs counter to ongoing negotiations.

We are extremely disappointed with the outcome of this vote, which authorizes the NNU to call a strike at any time and for any length of time—without going back to nurses for a vote. We feel this vote is premature as our nurses have not yet seen the full outcome of negotiations…UCMC does not want a strike. Unfortunately, the vote has put us in a position where we must prepare for a strike,” Wong wrote in the statement.

When the NNU sets a date for the strike, it will give the UCMC 10 days of advance notice so that it may hire non–NNU nurses to work in the hospital; if negotiations fail and the strike occurs, the hospital will continue to function.

The previous contract between the UCMC and the NNU expired last October, and the two parties have yet to reach a new agreement. Sticking points include the practice of nurse rotation and nurse-to-patient ratios...

... Brigitt Manson, a UCMC pediatric nurse and NNU member, said that eliminating rotation altogether is a major NNU goal in the ongoing negotiations, as well as a motivation for the strike vote.

Our goal is no rotation, because rotating causes sleep deprivation and is fundamentally unsafe. I enjoy my work, I enjoy my job, and I want everything to be safe. By [us] voting to strike, [the UCMC] will understand that the nurses are working under stress, and that nurse satisfaction equals patient satisfaction,” Manson said...

The Chicago Maroon — Nurses’ union votes to strike if negotiations fail