CHICAGO — Management refusal to consider safe-staffing forced the 2,800 registered nurses at the University of Chicago’s hospital complex to call a 24-hour strike starting at 7 am on March 14.
The nurses, members of National Nurses United, said they’ve been bargaining since October for a new contract and staffing has been the big roadblock. Some 97% of voting nurses authorized the strike in a February 20 vote. The nurses had to strike in 2019, too.
“We don’t take the decision to strike lightly,” Amber Turi, RN in the medical intensive care unit and bargaining team member, told NNU. “But management made clear this is a necessary step to demonstrate how committed we are to improving safety and staffing in our new contract.
“We look forward to seeing our community on the picket line to show UChicago all of us are demanding better.” On January 15, the nurses also conducted informational picketing on safe staffing.
Key safe-staffing issues include: Accountability for management rejection of nurses’ staffing committee recommendations, allowing charge nurses without patient assignments to assist other nurses and employing “a clinically trained professional in the staffing office to offer input on staffing decisions.”
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