Joliet nurses turn down Ascension Healthcare's 'final offer' after months without contract
JOLIET, Ill. - Joliet nurses asked Ascension Healthcare to return to the bargaining table after turning down their "last, best and final offer" this week.
After four months without offering any formal proposals, Ascension Healthcare gave the nurses of Saint Joseph Medical the offer on Dec. 5.
Two weeks later, almost 80 percent of nurses voted to reject the offer.
Ascension and the nurses have been in contract negotiations since May of 2023. The healthcare workers went on strike in August, demanding better pay and staffing. Illinois Nurses Association (INA), the Nurses' Union, says they went on two Unfair Labor Practice strikes because the company wasn't bargaining in good faith.
"We came to the table with basically all of our proposals ready and Ascension’s lawyers spent months coming to bargaining sessions with nothing prepared," nurse and executive board member Patricia Meade said. "Now they are claiming that they ‘can’t move anymore’ and don’t even want to hear our counter proposal."
The executive board of the union made the unanimous decision to recommend a "no" vote on the contract. The "final" offer was said to include proposed wages below market and mandates that nurses can be pressed into working on units outside of their specialty. Nurses say Ascension has already begun the practice of moving around nurses then pressuring them to do additional work.
Ascension says the new contract would have increased registered nurse wage rates up to 19 percent.
"It’s a dealbreaker for me, because it’s unfair and unsafe," Jeanine Johnson said. "They say they just need you as an extra set of hands but next thing you know you’re expected to pass medications, then they are asking you to be the charge nurse and take a team."
Nurses reported being pressured by managers and receiving multiple emails misrepresenting the language in the offer in the weeks leading up to the vote.
"When I started at this job, it was demanding but gratifying work." nurse Beth Corsetti said. "Now I have trouble sleeping on nights before I have a shift scheduled because I have such bad anxiety about what might happen."
The union asks that Ascension hears their most recent counter proposal, hopeful that they will reach a compromise that puts the hospital back on the right track.
Ascension released the following statement after the contract was voted down:
"It is unfortunate our fair and reasonable contract proposal was not ratified by our represented registered nurses (RNs). While we remain willing to meet with Illinois Nurses Association (INA) to discuss the benefits and details of our proposal, as we have communicated to INA, our nurses and publicly, the contract proposal that was voted on represents our best and final offer for the RN successor contract."