Amita St. Joseph nurses end strike, approve three-year contract

Nurses at Amita St. Joseph Medical Center approved a new three-year contract Monday night, ending a 16-day strike at the Joliet hospital, according to a statement from their union. 

Nurses will return to work tomorrow, a statement from Amita Health said. Some 720 nurses represented by the Illinois Nurses Association went on strike over issues of safe staffing, extended sick leave and pay.

“We are pleased that Amita Health St. Joseph Medical Center Joliet and the Illinois Nurses Association have reached a contract agreement, ending the strike by represented nurses that has been underway since 7 a.m. Saturday, July 4, 2020,” said an emailed statement from Timothy Nelson, Amita system director of communications and media relations. “We feel the agreement reached is fair and just for all involved and appreciate the ratification by the represented nurses.” 

“While a majority of nurses voted for this contract, there are still many nurses who want to see more progress on safe staffing,” a lead union negotiator and registered nurse, Pat Meade, said in the INA's statement. “We will continue the fight for safe staffing through enforcement of our contract and in Springfield.” 

Meade said in the statement that the new contract provided nurses with many things they were seeking, including: 

• Agreement that Amita would improve staffing guidelines on certain units by the end of the year and would consult with the union on staffing issues by then.

• Improvements to the hospital’s staffing committee and protocols for nurses to have their concerns raised and escalated beyond the chief nursing officer when necessary.

• Retaining their extended-illness benefit that allows nurses to be paid for any illness or injury of more than four days.

• Caps on health-insurance premium contributions at 25 percent for full-time nurses and 35 percent for part-time nurses.

• Two percent wage increases in both the second and third years of the contract.

Nurses had been working without a contract at the 480-bed hospital since May 9. Chief among their complaints was staffing levels, including a nurse-to-patient ratio that the union said was four times higher than safe levels.