Nurses at AMITA Health Saint Joseph Medical Center have authorized its union to call a strike if negotiations breakdown.
The vote was 558-53 to authorize the strike, said nurse Pat Meade, one of the lead negotiators in the contract talks.
No strike date has been set.
“We plan to go back to the bargaining table,” Meade said Friday. “We have eight more scheduled bargaining days.”
Meade said, however, the vote does authorize the Illinois Nurses Association, the union which represents 707 nurses at the hospital, to call for a strike if progress is not made in negotiations.
The INA said the 87 percent turnout for the vote was the highest in history of the bargaining unit at the Joliet hospital.
The vote took place Thursday and Friday.
Meade said the vote included options on how long a strike nurses would support and that the vote was overwhelming for the option of “as long as it takes.”
The current contract for the nurses expired on May 9.
Meade said the two sides have made little progress in the talks and have not yet begun to discuss major economic issues.
Major issues still being discussed include health insurance, staffing levels, and an Extended Illness Bank used to pay for long sick leave. Nurses say AMITA wants to replace the Extended Illness Bank with disability insurance coverage that provides less compensation.
The nurses this week filed three unfair labor practice complaints against AMITA with the National Labor Relations Board concerning the contract talks.
An AMITA spokesman in response to the complaints said the hospital administration is negotiating in “good faith.”
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May 30, 2020 at 09:35AM
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