Despite challenges, nurses at Ascension St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Joliet say they are fighting for the right to provide the best medical care to patients.
Pat Meade, a registered nurse in the recovery room, treasurer of the St. Joseph Nurses Association and past president of the Illinois Nurses Association, said the nurse’s union is currently in contract negotiations with the hospital. Their contract is set to expire on July 19, 2023. “If negotiations are unsuccessful, the nurses will still work with hopes of reaching an agreement beneficial to both sides,” Meade said.
“We need to sit down and hash out non-economic issues,” said Meade. She noted that negotiators for the hospital have yet to respond to nearly 30 of those points to be negotiated, which include retirement, benefits, staffing and how many sick days are allowed for nurses.
“We are short staffed, and this has been a local issue forever,” said Meade, alluding to when the critical care hospital and ER with advanced specialty care services was under Provena and Amita St. Joseph Medical Center.
“We are down 325 nurses since 2018,” Meade added. Currently, Ascension has about 530 nurses on staff, but the ideal number to provide adequate quality medical care to patients is to have about 800 nurses,” she said.
Sarah Hurd, organizer of the Illinois Nurses Association, the parent group of St. Joseph Nurses Association, said many nurses do not choose Ascension as a place to work because they can make more money at nearby AdventHealth Bolingbrook and Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox. She said this ultimately hurts the Joliet community.
Because the nurses previously accepted a salary freeze at 2019 levels, Hurd said “they are asking for a 35 percent pay increase.” That amount also takes into account inflation and the proposal will be negotiated with the hospital.”
Hurd and Meade both said they want Ascension to pay good salaries to full-time nurses who are part of the Joliet community and not travel nurses, who aren’t members of the union. Meade said “about three months ago, only two of the 12 nurses in the ICU unit were Ascension employees. The rest were travel nurses who typically take short-term jobs to make more money.”
“Our goal is to save St. Joseph,” said Hurd. “Our hospital is in existential crisis because of mismanagement.”
Hurd also said “it is not uncommon for nurses to work with malfunctioning medical equipment that needs repair, such as blood pressure monitors. Additionally, both Hurd and Meade said, “nurses often receive paychecks that pay them the wrong amount.”
“Nine times out of ten, the wages on our checks are incorrect,” said Meade.
In fact, in February 2023, four nurses filed a federal class action lawsuit against Ascension Health, alleging the system failed to pay the correct wage amounts while the defendants were employed at the Joliet hospital. That lawsuit is still pending.
In July 2020, nurses at what was then Amita St. Joseph Medical Center went on strike after contract negotiations stalled between the hospital and the nurses’ union.
The Times Weekly contacted Ascension St. Joseph Hospital for comment but did not hear from them by press time. mm@thetimesweekly.com
