NEW ORLEANS — Monday, newly-unionized nurses from University Medical Center in New Orleans announced a one-day strike planned for next Friday. The hospital released a statement Monday afternoon calling the strike a “significant disappointment” and promising patient care would not be interrupted.
The majority of nurses at UMC voted to unionize late last year. They were the first at any private-sector Louisiana hospital to do so. Negotiations began, centering on workplace safety, staffing, pay, and benefits.
UMC nurse and union negotiator Heidi Tujague said some agreements were reached. “The hospital has done some positive things for violence prevention, which we really appreciate,” she said.
But “some of the proposals that we've done, the hospital has just straight-up rejected them,” she said, “and instead of giving us a rebuttal to those proposals, they're like, ‘no, sorry, we don't think this is important.”
Tujague said the biggest sticking point has been staffing ratios. The nurses have been holding rallies and informational pickets to call attention to the negotiations, and on Friday and Saturday, they voted on whether or not to strike.
Monday, the union announced an “overwhelming majority” of members voted yes. The strike will last one day. “We want to be able to return back to our patient care,” said Tujague, “because that's our main thing, is making sure that we're taking care of our patients.”
She encouraged patients not to cancel appointments scheduled for that day, and the hospital itself echoed that patient care would not be interrupted in a statement a few hours after the strike was announced.
“The decision by union leaders to strike is not surprising given recent events but is nonetheless a significant disappointment,” said UMC President and CEO John Nickens in the statement. “We recognize the NNU’s action may cause unwarranted anxiety, confusion, and stress among our community, patients, staff, and their families. Please know, our commitment and ability to care for our patients and their families will be unaffected by the union’s actions.”
The strike is planned for October 25, after the union is required to give the hospital a federally mandated 10-day notice period.
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