Joliet nurses plan two-day strike

Nurses at Ascension Saint Joseph – Joliet said they plan to go on a two-day strike on Aug. 22.

The union and Ascension are still in contract negotiations with the next bargaining session scheduled for Tuesday. The nurses’ contract expired July 19.

A statement from the Illinois Nurses Association on Friday said the strike would be an unfair labor practice strike focused on Ascension’s use of non-union nurses at the Joliet hospital.

“We are calling for a two-day strike,” she said. “It might be for two days, but Ascension may lock us out.”

—  Katherine Soprych, membership chair of the Illinois Nurses Association

Whether the strike occurs and just how long nurses are off the job may depend on Ascension, said Katherine Soprych, membership chair of the INA local at the hospital.

Soprych said the union would be able to call off the strike if enough progress was made in negotiations next week but she was not hopeful.

“We are calling for a two-day strike,” she said. “It might be for two days, but Ascension may lock us out.”

Any lockout by law would be limited to a matter of days because the union is basing the strike on an unfair labor practice, Soprych said.

Ascension did not respond to a request for comment.

According to the INA statement, the union recently learned that Ascension has been paying outside nurses at rates sought by the union at the negotiating table while not allowing them to join the union.

The complaint apparently is a reference to agency nurses that the hospital hires amid what the union says is a shortage in regular staff.

“This regular understaffing endangers patients, and violates state law and the terms of the contract,” the INA statement said.

The union contends the regular nursing staff is down 350 nurse from five years ago.