Nurses say management has made strike necessary due to stalling negotiations

Nurses at UChicago Medicine in Chicago, Illinois, will hold a one-day strike on March 14 to protest the administration’s refusal to address RNs’ demand to improve safe staffing at their facility, announced National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United (NNOC/NNU) today.

This notice follows a 97 percent “yes” strike authorization vote, as NNOC/NNU announced on February 20. Nurses have given advance notice to the hospital for their strike, and have said since January that a strike was not off the table.

“We don’t take the decision to strike lightly,” said Amber Turi, RN in the medical intensive care unit and bargaining team member. “But management has made clear that this is a necessary step to demonstrate how committed we are to improving safety and staffing in our new contract. We look forward to seeing our community on the picket line to show UChicago all of us are demanding better.”

Who: Registered nurses at UChicago Medical Center
What: One-day strike for safe staffing
When: Thursday, March 14, 7 a.m. to Friday, March 15, 6:59 a.m.
Where: UChicago Medicine, 5841 S. Maryland Avenue, Chicago, Illinois

UChicago nurses have been in negotiations since October 2023 for a new contract with little to no movement on key issues. The RNs urge management to agree to a contract that provides:

• Accountability for management rejecting nurses’ staffing committee recommendations
• Charge nurses without patient assignments to enable their ability to assist other nurses
• A clinically trained professional in the staffing office to offer input on staffing decisions

In January, nurses at UChicago held an informational picket and rally to speak out about management not listening to their concerns regarding safety and staffing at their facility.

National Nurses Organizing Committee represents 2,800 nurses at UChicago Medicine.

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. NNU affiliates also include California Nurses Association, DC Nurses Association, Michigan Nurses Association, Minnesota Nurses Association, and New York State Nurses Association.