Nurses across the country go on strike

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Nurses in several states held a one-day strike last Friday over concerns about staffing, pay, and other working conditions.

In a strike, organized by the union National Nurses United, nurses at a dozen Tenet-affiliated hospitals in Arizona, California, and Florida rallied Friday morning to push their hospitals to allocate more resources to the nursing staff to improve recruitment and retention, which in turn will benefit patient care. The hospitals remained fully operational during the strike.

At the same time, nurses at the University of Chicago Medical Center (UCMC) held their own one-day strike. This walkout, organized by the National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United, occurred after negotiations between the hospital and the union over incentive pay for future job applicants broke down earlier in the week.

In anticipation of the strike, UCMC transferred patients to other hospitals, limited transfers of patients from other hospitals, closed units, and brought in temporary nurses to work during the walkout. The hospital’s contract with the temporary nurses extended to the following Wednesday, which meant the striking UCMC nurses were not allowed to return to work until then.

Sources: Arizona Republic and Chicago Tribune