Dozens of union nurses walked off the job this week to conduct a 48-hour strike against management at SLU Hospital. It was the second time in recent weeks, nurses took to the picket lines. They said it was a necessary last resort with SSM Health management refusing to go back to the bargaining table.
"We did not do this because we wanted to be out here in the freezing cold," said emergency RN Jessica Tulk. "We did this because it's necessary and at this point, they've made it clear that their interest in bargaining is to preserve their interests and not to provide things that we need to do our jobs."
The National Nurses Organizing Committee (NNOC) and National Nurses United (NNU) voted overwhelmingly to authorize the strike earlier this month. They're calling for a contract with better pay, more physical security and better job security, due to outsourced staffing. Spokesperson Kellie Allen says the unions and the hospital should want the same thing -- to attract and retain top talent.
"The nurses here are highly skilled because the patients we see here are sicker," Allen said. "Within the SSM system, the sicker patients are sent to SLU. You have to be able to spend time at the bedside; you have to be able to pick up on the subtle differences in your patient."
Tulk said she's appreciative of the support the nurses have gotten from other unions and from the general public during this most recent strike.
"People love nurses, people respect nurses and they should," she said. "We're an educated group of people who devote our lives to caring for people and bettering their lives when they're having the worst days of their lives. I think the public really does support and want the same things that we want."
A statement from SSM Health this week had the following response:
"Calling for yet another work stoppage demonstrates clearly where NNOC's priorities are – and it's not taking care of our nurses or patients. The NNOC's self-serving tactics are wholly counterproductive to our efforts to continue attracting and retaining nurses to our world-class academic medical center."
