Ascension Joliet hospital nurses to picket as contract talks resume

Nurses at Ascension Saint Joseph-Joliet hospital invite the public to join their next information picket Wednesday, which will be held at almost the one-year mark since union contract negotiations started.

The picket will be from 5 to 8 p.m. and is one more action taken by local members of the Illinois Nurses Association to draw attention to the contract standoff that has continued since talks started May 9, 2023.

That was the first negotiation date between the two sides on a contract that expired in July 2023. The two sides met again Monday.

“I am hopeful,” Illinois Nurses Association Joliet unit communications chairwoman Kaitlynd French said after the talks. “We felt like movement is approaching.”

The two sides will meet again May 7 and 16.

Ascension spokeswoman Olga Solares said the informational picket will not affect patient care.

“The safety and well-being of our patients, visitors, associates and picketers is our first priority,” Solares said in an emailed statement. “The union’s informational picket is not a strike and will not impact patient care.”

In January, Ascension implemented double-digit pay increases for nurses in what management said was its final offer to the union. Management contends it has been able to increase nurse staffing levels since implementing the new pay scale.

The union argues that the new pay scale does not match those of other area hospitals such as Ascension hospitals in the Chicago region. It also argues that management has inflated the number of new nurses hired.