Sacred Heart Talks Scheduled Nurses Vote On Whether To Authorize A Strike
Nurses at Sacred Heart Medical Center will return to the bargaining table this morning, most likely with the results of a strike vote taken this week.
A federal mediator asked administrators and nurses on Wednesday if they would resume negotiations, and both sides agreed.
The bargaining session was scheduled as nurses voted on whether they would authorize a strike.
More than 1,100 registered nurses have been working without a contract since Dec. 31. On Monday and Wednesday, they voted on the hospital’s latest offer and on whether they would strike.
“Most every nurse I’ve talked to today is voting strike,” Carolyn Trussell said as she finished voting Wednesday afternoon.
The labor dispute boils down to two main issues: The nurses don’t want to be placed on mandatory on-call and they want input on staffing changes.
The nurses union also wants all new nurses to be required to join. And the nurses have proposed a slightly higher raise than management has offered.
Administrators have said they’ve made compromises but they need to retain control over hospital business.
On Wednesday, nurses voted inside a motor home in a parking lot across the street from the Sacred Heart Doctors Building. Nurses trickled in to cast their ballots during breaks or before or after their shifts. Some came on their day off, children in their arms.
The strike vote wrapped up at midnight Wednesday. Nurses planned to spend the night counting votes so results would be available before negotiations start this morning.
At least 85 percent of the nurses at the hospital would have to vote in favor of authorizing a strike before the union gives the hospital notice, said nurse Barbara Heimbigner, co-chairwoman of the Sacred Heart unit of the Washington State Nurses Association.
Still, the nurses must give the hospital 10 days’ notice before a strike. And even if the nurses vote to authorize a strike, that doesn’t mean a strike is inevitable because they could use the vote as a bargaining tool.
On Wednesday, nurses who talked were of a single mind. They were concerned about patient safety and mandatory on-call. Nobody wanted the hospital’s final contract offer. But nobody really wanted to strike.
“I find (a strike) a little frightening,” Trussell said. “But if we’re not willing to strike at this point, we’re going to continue to go downhill really quickly. It’s now or never.”
Nurse Margaret Mousseau graduated from nursing school in 1948, and she’s retiring from Sacred Heart Medical Center this week.
On Wednesday afternoon, Mousseau wore a dark blue nurse’s cape, her white uniform and a crisp white cap and walked over to the motor home.
“I think it’s a very sad note to end my career on,” said Mousseau, who didn’t want to say how she had voted. “I don’t think anybody wins in a strike.”
Management also wants to avoid a strike. Hospital spokeswoman Marilyn Thordarson said management is hopeful about the negotiating session today.
“We are willing to go back, and they are willing to go back,” Thordarson said. “That is an indication that both parties are willing to resolve the issues and willing to avoid a potential strike.”
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