Nurses at University of Illinois Hospital walk off the job in second strike since August

The nurses are seeking better security to prevent patients from attacking them at the hospital, are concerned about potential staffing changes, and they’re asking for higher pay.

UI Health said in a note on its website Wednesday morning that it may contact patients to reschedule some appointments and procedures, and is limiting patient transfers from other hospitals, for the time being. The system has secured “licensed and qualified nurses and health care professionals” to work during the strike, the system said. Typically, hospitals use nurses from outside agencies when their own staff members go on strike.

It’s the second time the nurses have gone on strike since August, which is when their last contract expired.

“We deserve better pay for all we do,” said Rosie Cullers, a nurse in a urology outpatient clinic, as she stood across from the hospital’s main entrance Wednesday, amid other striking nurses and a sea of blue and white signs. “Especially after COVID, it’s like a slap in the face that now they won’t bother to give us what we ask for, what we deserve.”

UI Health has proposed raises of 4.5% for the first year of the contract, 3% the second and third years, and 4% the fourth year, according to the union, the Illinois Nurses Association. The health system has said that the majority of its nurses are already better paid than 90% of nurses in the Chicago area. The union, meanwhile, is seeking a three-year contract with raises of 7% the first year, 5% the second year and 4% the third year.

UI Health said in a statement Wednesday morning, “UI Health nurses are critical to the hospital’s mission of clinical excellence and safe patient care,” and that it has made “substantive” offers to the union on compensation and security.

“UI Health has made numerous investments in safety technologies and programs to protect staff and patients,” the system said, noting decreases in incidents of violence against staff.

Nurses, however, say more is needed. The union wants to see additional security guards in the emergency department, and wants security guards to round throughout the hospital, said Paul Pater, an emergency department nurse and co-chief steward for the union. The union also wants nurses to have the right to recuse themselves from caring for patients who threaten or assault them, and they want them to get special paid leave if they’re assaulted at work, rather than have to use their own sick or vacation days, said Dan Shansky, a lead negotiator with the Illinois Nurses Association.

“Nurses have been threatened and physically assaulted,” said Ruth Crane, a medical ICU nurse. “This isn’t the hospital I started working at 26 years ago. When I started working here nurses were respected. Now it seems as if the administration is seeing how far they can go to disrespect us.”

Though the strike is open-ended, nurses are scheduled to vote Tuesday on next steps, if they’re still striking at that point.

The bargaining unit that’s on strike consists of about 1,700 nurses, but not all of them will be able to strike at once. Cook County Circuit Judge Alison Conlon modified a temporary restraining order Tuesday prohibiting 68 nurses at a time, who work in certain units, from going on strike.

The order came after the University of Illinois board of trustees filed a motion in Cook County Circuit Court late last week asking that some nurses in the bone marrow transplant unit, the emergency department and a number of intensive care units, among others, be prohibited from striking. The trustees argued in court documents that if all the nurses from those units went on strike, it could be dangerous because of the unique services provided in those units, the specialized needs of the patients, the lack of qualified substitutes and an inability to move the patients to other facilities without jeopardizing their health.

UI Health also said in court documents that it had already secured “a number” of agency nurses to work during the strike. But the system noted that it has been challenging because the strike is shortly before Thanksgiving and it’s not yet known how long the strike will last. Many agency nurses travel from other parts of the country, and may not want to be away from home during the holiday, attorneys for the health system wrote.

The nurses’ last strike was during the week of the Democratic National Convention, which unfolded partly at the United Center near University of Illinois Hospital.

Before that strike, Conlon issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting 91 nurses per shift from going on strike. That strike lasted for a week. The nurses also went on a weeklong strike in 2020.