ST. LOUIS — Registered nurses at SSM Health St. Louis University Hospital will strike for 48 hours beginning tomorrow to protest management’s outsourcing of RN jobs and “persistent union-busting.”

What You Need To Know

  • The strike starts at 7 a.m. on Dec. 27 until Dec. 29, at 6:59 a.m., according to the National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United (NNOC/NNU)

  • SLU Hospital nurses have been in negotiations for a new contract since May as the previous contract expired June 15. RNs held an informational picket on key issues July 19 and a one-day strike Sept. 25 protesting patient care, safe staffing and workplace violence

  • SSM Health said the NNOC did not respond to a counter wage proposal in October and said the union has continued to stall with frequent starting and stopping

The strike starts at 7 a.m. on Dec. 27 until Dec. 29, at 6:59 a.m., according to the National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United (NNOC/NNU).

“We condemn SSM for trying to break the union by encouraging nurses to leave the union instead of bargaining in good faith,” said Maddi O’Leary, RN in the blood and marrow transplant clinic at SLUH.

“SSM seems to be dragging this process out and encouraging the decertification of our union. This is why we are striking.”

SLU Hospital nurses have been in negotiations for a new contract since May as the previous contract expired June 15. RNs held an informational picket on key issues July 19 and a one-day strike Sept. 25 protesting patient care, safe staffing and workplace violence.

“We are deeply disappointed the NNOC has once again chosen to try and pull nurses away from the bedside to participate in a strike rather than complete discussions at the bargaining table,” a statement from SSM Health says.

SSM Health said the NNOC did not respond to a counter wage proposal in October and said the union has continued to stall with frequent starting and stopping.  

The statement said the NNOC canceled a Nov. 29 bargaining session and declined to meet from Nov. 21 through Dec. 11, “preferring to spend that time working on a strike vote (while excluding the more than 40% of SLU-H nurses who refuse to pay union dues from voting).”

Both parties met again Dec. 12 and Dec. 13 and “were making solid progress for nurses. But unfortunately, NNOC leaders have now chosen to halt progress again – preferring to focus their efforts on a strike rather than reaching a contract that would finally get our nurses the increases they deserve,” according to SSM Health.

Members of NNOC authorized the strike in a Dec. 8 vote and provided a 10-day notice.

"We have a staffing crisis, but a revolving door of outsourced nurses is not the solution," said Earline Shepard, RN in the cardiac catheterization lab at SLUH.

"We are taking time away from our patients to assist temporary agency nurses. Staff nurses can give our patients the continuity of care they need in their medical treatment."

Patient care during the strike will not be interrupted. Not all nurses are in the union.

“We remain committed to reaching an agreement that supports and benefits our valued SLU-H nurses with a robust market-competitive compensation and benefits package – while ensuring patients continue receiving the best care possible,” SSM Health said in the statement.