JOLIET (WBBM NEWSRADIO) - Nurses in Joliet walked out Tuesday morning, holding a rally outside Ascension St. Joseph Hospital and beginning a planned four-day strike.
This four-day strike will have the unionized nurses back to work at St. Joseph Medical Center on the day after Thanksgiving. Ascension will bring in replacement staff until that time.
The nurses union added that upwards of 60 scheduled surgical procedures have been canceled ahead of the strike. St. Joseph RN Beth Corsetti said that not all of those were canceled by the hospital.
“Some patients that I have spoken with so far, anybody that has pushed off has said that they are doing it in support of us because they don’t trust that outside nurses to come in and take care of them. They just don’t trust them,” Corsetti said.
This is the second strike for Joliet nurses in just six months over wages and understaffing. Corsetti said that when nurses returned from the last strike patient loads went from an average of 5 per shift, which she said was already too many, to now six.
Replacement staff during the last strike were taking on about three patients per shift. She added that since the last strike managerial abuse has increased.
“They’re just really trying to nitpick. They’re going through our charting, doing all of these audits. Today, they said if we have any more falls there is going to be corrective action. I was like, ‘excuse me?’” added Corsetti.
Finally, Corsetti said that many nurses are leaving St. Joseph in Joliet, including in the labor and delivery unit, with no signs of permanent replacements.
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