Joliet nurses likely to reject Ascension’s ‘last, best and final’ contract offer

Joliet — The Illinois Nurses’ Association at Ascension St. Joseph – Joliet is voting on the hospital’s “last best and final offer” for a new contract and is expected to reject the contract proposal.

The vote was scheduled for Monday and Tuesday.

Ascension offered the proposal Dec. 12. It includes 19 percent raises for entry-level nurses to improve recruitment and provides and 17% for middle-tier nurses, which would be implemented starting in February. The new contract would not be retroactive, although the old contract expired in July.

In a statement released by Ascension St. Joseph – Joliet, the hospital said “after eight months of good faith bargaining with Illinois Nurses Association, we provided INA with our last, best and final offer on the successor contract for our registered nurses. We have listened and heard our nurses, and have held productive two-way conversations with their INA representatives. We agree there were issues to address, which we have done in our final proposal.”

Negotiators for the nurses’ association say that proposal “missed the mark.”

“We did a lot of research going into these negotiations a year ago to find out what other hospitals in the area, including Silver Cross [in New Lenox], were paying and the raises from this contract still don’t reach those numbers which are now a year old,” said Sarah Hurd, an organizer for the Illinois Nurses Association. “There is no chance of getting a fully staffed hospital if nurses on the job market look and see two hospitals in the same area aren’t paying close to the same starting wage.”

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the hospital had more than 800 nurses working on staff. It now has about 500, with more quitting on a regular basis because od the understaffing issues, according to the nurses at Ascension St. Joseph – Joliet.

“It’s probably too ambitious to get back to 800 nurses,” Hurd said, “but the first step is bringing in enough people so the staff can work a normal workweek schedule and the hospital can stay functional. To do that, you need to pay enough to attract the people we need.”

In the past two years, the hospital has reduced the number of elective surgeries it offers because of low staffing and has begun outsourcing palliative care patients to other hospitals to reduce the number of nurses needed for the service.

Although Hurd said the proposal is an improvement from the previous offer, which was made in summer, she expressed frustration that this was only the second official offer the union has received in the eight months since contract negotiations began.

“For them to come to the last schedule negotiation session of the year and say it’s their ‘last best and final’ offer is upsetting, because they haven’t been negotiating with us. We could have been trading proposals back and forth for months, but they wouldn’t do anything and now they say this is their last offer.”

In addition to the low starting pay, there are concerns about the wage scale, which includes a nearly 10-year gap between service time pay raises for nurses who’ve served for between 20 and 30 years. Also, nurses who have served the longest will get lump sum bonuses instead of annual raises, which some nurses see as discriminatory to older, more experienced employees.

The union also is unhappy with wording in the contract that they say allows the hospital to pull nurses from their regular floors or departments to other areas of the hospital where there is greater need, regardless of experience.

“We want nurses to be able to have a choice,” Hurd said. “This language means a nurse whose unit is having a slow day can be pulled to different areas instead of being sent home, and it is mandatory. Some people would be happy to do that, but the important thing is they should have a choice and feel comfortable with that assignment, because it’s their licenses on the line if something goes wrong.”

According to St. Joseph nurse and negotiating committee member Beth Corsetti, the language states that nurses pulled into these mandatory switches would only be working as “functional nurses” in the department. The implication is they would would perform less specialized tasks, however, there is no definition in the contract or in Illinois law that defines the term “functional nurse.”

“That is something that would need to be clarified to get approval,” Corsetti said. “Because, God forbid, of something goes wrong and we lose our license, that’s our entire livelihood gone.”

Despite the concerns, Hurd said she believes a deal is getting closer.

“We feel we’re getting close to a deal, but we still need to work on a few of the numbers,” she said. “If you have a fully staffed hospital, you wouldn’t need to be pulling people all over and have everyone working overtime, but it comes back to pay. They need to pay a rate which makes new nurses come in and makes existing nurses feel like they aren’t doing themselves and their families a disservice by staying in their job.”

The union is recommending a no vote, something Corsetti said she believes most nurses will agree with.

“Every nurse I’ve spoken with has basically said they’ll vote no,” she said. “Nobody is happy with the pay they’re offering. They sound like a huge increase but that’s just because the bar started so low. The cost of living raises being offered is an improvement, but it’s not enough and it doesn’t help our senior nurses enough.”

In response to the possible rejection of the contract offer, Ascension Saint Joseph - Joliet said in a statement, “Every week that goes by is another week we are unable to implement these wage increases, which not only impacts each of our nurses, but also affects Ascension Saint Joseph - Joliet’s ability to competitively hire and retain RNs from across the region. Ascension Saint Joseph - Joliet is hopeful that the hard work of both the hospital and INA bargaining teams is recognized, and this offer is presented for ratification and approved, as we believe it is fair and respectful of the diverse needs of our registered nurses, and responsible as we continue to be good stewards and ensure a sustainable future for our nonprofit hospital.”

“St. Joseph’s existed before Ascension,” Hurd said. “It was thriving. It’s not the city or the building that’s the problem, it’s a matter of needing more investment from management. This is the hospital the city of Joliet depends on. We owe it to the city to keep this hospital a place that can handle their needs.”