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The nurses union at Ascension Saint Joseph – Joliet reached a tentative agreement with Ascension early Saturday evening.
Sarah Hurd, organizer for the Illinois Nurses Association, said on Sunday that the tentative agreement was something that both parties could “probably be happy with.”
Hurd said voting on the new contract should start next week and will take a couple of weeks. A majority of the union’s 500 nurses would need to vote “yes,” to make the contract official.
“Maybe there isn’t everything on this contract [nurses] wish it had,” Hurd said. “But it had some things that they can make work for the next three years.”
The tentative agreement includes a $3,000 one-time bonus and the option for nurses to refuse being pulled into units for which they have no expertise, Hurd said.
“We’re so thrilled,” Hurd said. “But it won’t be official until our nurses give the final OK. But I can say a lot of the people who are the people who are on our team are really excited about it.”
Bargaining began May 9, 2023, and the nurses contract expired in July 2023. In August and November 2023, and February 2024, the nurses at the Joliet hospital started a two-day strike followed by a two-day lockout by Ascension.
Hurd said the tentative agreement came through at the “11th hour.”
On Thursday, the nurses union communicated to Ascension that they needed a response to its most recent counter proposal by the end of the day Friday or they would put in a 10-day notice to strike, which they did, Hurd said.
On Saturday, the nurses union and Ascension communicated through a mediator and worked out a tentative agreement by early Saturday evening, Hurd said.
On Sunday evening, Olga Solares, senior director or external communications for Ascension, said in an email that Ascension Saint Joseph-Joliet and the Illinois Nurses Association “have reached a tentative agreement on the contract for the registered nurses they represent, and INA has withdrawn their notice of intent to strike.
“Out of respect for the ratification process, we will not speak to details of the agreement until INA has a chance to meet with their membership to review the proposed contract and host the necessary ratification vote,” Solares said in the statement. “We would like to express our appreciation to the Ascension Saint Joseph-Joliet and INA bargaining teams for their diligent work in reaching this mutually beneficial agreement. We look forward to successful ratification of the agreement.”