ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - With no bargaining date on the calendar until next month, union nurses at Saint Louis University Hospital started walking the picket line Monday morning.
Nurses began walking the picket at 7 a.m. as they thrive to achieve better safety measures and higher staffing levels.
The strike by National Nurses United members will only last 24 hours. It's the unit's first-ever walk-out.
In a statement, the union says the action is to protest "the administration’s refusal to address RNs’ deep concerns about patient care, safe staffing, and workplace violence." 94% of members voted to authorize the one-day strike. SSM Health was given ten days notice of the action.
Sarah DeWilde, who a nurse at the hospital and a part of a the bargaining table says that there been no progress since nurses and the hospital failed to reach a deal two weeks ago.
"We had two more session with SSM Hospital after we called for the (strike) vote and really no progress has been made," said DeWilde, "The nurses came to the table really serious (last Wednesday) and it seemed like SSM was disengaged."
Among the demands by the nurses include better safety measures for nurses, along with increased staffing of nurses and making sure nurses can have breaks, the latter something DeWilde told KMOX previously that she, along with plenty of nurses in the hospital hasn't had a break in years.
"We're tired of being tired," said DeWilde, "We want changes in the hospital and SSM Health knows that we need changes to better our care of patients."
Safety measures for nurses is a serious priority for the union, as hospital violence has started increasing rapidly across the county.
"I don't want to be concerned about having to go seek treatment somewhere because I just got injured at work," said DeWilde.
In a statement sent to KMOX News, SSM Health St. Louis University Hospital says:
"The team at SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital has been rallying together to support our patients and each other. We have comprehensive plans in place to ensure there is no disruption in care or service for the people and community we are called to serve. In addition to extra clinical and operational support – we have highly trained and experienced agency nurses in place to ensure uninterrupted care for our patients.
Many of our SLU-H nurses have not elected to join the NNOC’s strike, as is their right, and remain with us at the bedside. In alignment with our Mission and Values, when the union’s strike ends on Tuesday morning, we look forward to welcoming the remaining members of our nursing team, whether they joined the strike or not.
While NNOC strikes are intended to create tension and division within hospitals – we will continue to support our nurses, treat everyone with respect and stay focused on advancing positive solutions.
The NNOC is well-known across the country for its highly divisive and politically motivated strategies – particularly during contract negotiations. NNOC calls more strikes than any other union representing health care workers – and routinely pickets, issues negative press releases, and attempts to publicly disparage the patient care provided at hospitals where they represent nurses. These tactics are wholly counterproductive to our efforts to continue attracting and retaining nurses to our world-class academic medical center.
It’s also important to note that while the NNOC states that 94% of nurses voted to authorize a strike – the NNOC leaders excluded more than 40% of SLU-H nurses from voting because they refuse to pay union dues. National Nurses Organizing Committee (NNOC) and its sister organizations, the California Nurses Association (CNA) and National Nurses United (NNU) together charged nurses more than $225 million in member dues and related fees in 2022, alone. NNOC collected nearly $1.1 million from dues-paying SLU-H nurses between 2020-2022. In 2023, dues-paying nurses at SLU-H have paid an average $73.51 per month to NNOC.
We value and respect all our talented, compassionate, and dedicated nurses and professionals who provide exceptional health care services to our patients and community every day. When the NNOC is ready to engage in bargaining, we remain committed to reaching an agreement that provides our nurses a strong, market competitive compensation and benefits package – while ensuring continued exceptional patient care and service at SLU-H.
The union and the SSM Hospital will have another meeting scheduled for Oct. 17, but DeWilde says she want to avoid another strike by the nurses if negotiations fail again.
"I'm willing to come in every day to get (a deal) done," said DeWilde, "But if a one-day strike isn't enough to get their attention, then man, I don't want to do any more strikes, I want to get this done, I want nurses to get taken care of so there patients can be well taken care of."
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