Ascension nurses in Wichita announce second strike amid contract negotiations
Nurses at Ascension Via Christi St. Francis and St. Joseph will hold a one-day strike for the second time this year on Dec. 6, the union representing the nurses said Wednesday.
The announcement comes amid the first contract negotiations at those hospitals after nurses voted to unionize. Nurses have raised concerns about staffing issues and patient safety at both hospitals.
Nurses in Wichita have complained about an unsafe level of staff to patients.
“Management is floating nurses all over the hospital without regard to their competencies or clinical specialties,” Marvin Ruckle, a nurse in the NICU at St. Joseph Hospital, said in a news release. “Before we unionized, a neonatal ICU nurse would be floated to work in the adult psychiatric unit, which is completely outside that RN’s area of expertise. We want to limit these unsafe floating practices and ensure that nurses are only floated to units where they have current competencies to perform the job well.”
Ascension said it is “disappointed National Nurses United has made the decision to proceed with a strike” but added it has a plan in place to “remain open and care for our patients.”
“While we respect the right of Ascension Via Christi’s represented associates to participate in this short-term strike, we believe that differences are best resolved respectfully at the bargaining table and continue to focus on our upcoming scheduled bargaining sessions as we work together to reach a mutually beneficial agreement for all.”
Nurses at Ascension Seton Medical Center in Austin, Texas, which has roughly 700 nurses, will also go on strike the same day. St. Joseph has roughly 300 nurses and St. Francis is around 650.
St. Joseph nurses voted in March, a few months after St. Francis voted, in favor of joining the National Nurses Organizing Commission, an affiliate of the National Nurses United, the country’s largest registered nurses union.
Ascension, a Catholic, not-for-profit health care system, is one of the largest health care systems in the country, with roughly 139,000 employees and hospitals in about 19 states. The company had more than $1 billion in cash in the fiscal year ending June 30.
During the one-day strike in June, Ascension officials didn’t allow nurses to return to work for three days. Ascension said the contracted workers they had to bring in required a three-day minimum. Ascension would not say who it contracted or provide a copy of the contract for the June strike. The union called it a scare tactic.
Ascension did not answer questions Wednesday about who it will contract with to cover for striking nurses and if the nurses will again have to be off for multiple days.
This story was originally published November 22, 2023 at 10:17 AM.