Cook County Health nurses have reached a tentative contract agreement with the hospital system that would include pay increases, following a one-day strike last week.
Meanwhile, a strike by about 2,000 members of the Service Employees International Union Local 73 who work at Cook County Health continued into its sixth day Wednesday.
More than 900 nurses who are members of the National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United went on strike Thursday. The nurses work at Stroger and Provident hospitals, the system’s clinics and Cermak Health Services, which provides health care to detainees at the Cook County Department of Corrections.
The nurses’ work stoppage forced the health system to postpone some non-urgent appointments and procedures. Stroger, which is a safety net hospital, went on bypass for 12 hours during the nurses’ strike, meaning it asked ambulances to take patients to other hospitals, though it still accepted trauma patients.
The nurses’ union and health system reached the tentative agreement shortly after midnight Monday, said Angela Walker, a Cook County Health nurse and member of the bargaining team.
The agreement would boost nurses’ across-the-board wages by about 8.5% over the four-year contract, and it would include incentives to help with retention, according to Cook County Health. The system also plans to post and fill about 300 nurse vacancies.
Staffing had been the nurses’ main concern leading up to the strike, with many saying that a dearth of nurses was leading to delays in patient care and burnout among nurses. Cook County Health previously said it has been continually recruiting nurses and hired nearly 800 nurses over the past year.
“I’m glad to see that the county heard our voice,” Walker said. “They listened to us when we were expressing the fact that we needed more staff, and the strike helped open their ears even wider.”
Members of the nurses union will vote on whether to ratify the contract Thursday and Friday. The nurses’ last contract expired in November.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the county had yet to reach an agreement with the SEIU, which began striking Friday.
Those employees work in offices under the Cook County president, in the county clerk’s office, in civilian positions in the sheriff’s office and at Cook County Health. Those who work at Cook County Health are employed at Stroger and Provident hospitals, clinics and in mental health services at Cermak. They include health care professionals, technicians, technologists and service and maintenance workers.
Sticking points are over pay, including pandemic pay such as temporary bonuses or raises for front-line workers in hazardous situations, and lowering proposed health care premium increases, the SEIU has said.
Alice Yin contributed.
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