Registered nurses represented by National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United (NNOC/NNU) at three Ascension-owned hospitals were informed on Friday, June 16, that they would be locked out for an additional three days following their planned one-day June 27 strike. Nurses at Ascension Seton Medical Center Austin in Texas and nurses at Ascension Via Christi St. Francis and Ascension Via Christi St. Joseph hospitals in Wichita, Kan., condemn this decision by management as a deliberate ploy to intimidate nurses from speaking out and demanding action on the conditions they decided to strike over.

Lindsay Spinney, RN, Ascension Seton Medical Center Austin neonatal intensive care unit: “This is a clear and, frankly, despicable attempt to frighten nurses who are standing up for their patients. Nurses planned a one-day strike because, ultimately, patient care is our top priority. Management would rather once again spend money to solve a problem they’ve created and punish us for speaking up in the process.”

Shelly Rader, RN, Ascension Via Christi St. Francis emergency department: “It’s clear from this week that our hospitals need management to step up to the plate and get serious about solving the patient care and safety problems happening inside. Instead, they seem more eager to make sure the press and public know that they’re forcing nurses away from the bedside for three extra days, the same way they’re forcing nurses away from the bedside every day with their mismanagement of our hospitals.”

Whitney Steinike, RN, Ascension Via Christi St. Joseph adolescent psychiatric unit: “Management absolutely does not have to extend this strike for an additional three days with a lockout. But they seem to think it’ll scare the nurses if they threaten to, but all this truly confirms is the power our organizing is building to make our hospitals better.”

For more information about the June 27 nurses strikes, see NNOC/NNU’s press release.

National Nurses Organizing Committee is an affiliate of National Nurses United, the largest and fastest-growing union and professional association of registered nurses in the United States with nearly 225,000 members nationwide.