The union representing nurses at Indiana Regional Medical Center has authorized its leaders to call for a strike.
The vote from the Indiana Registered Nurses Association authorizes the officers of the union to call for a strike “at a time when they feel it is necessary” according to a news release. IRNA president Kathy Wolfe said in that news release that they are entering bargaining sessions with Indiana Regional Medical Center with “an eagerness to reach an agreement that helps our nurses and our hospital continue to move forward.”
The authorization of a strike call does not mean that a strike will necessarily happen. The union is required to provide IRMC with a 10-day strike notice, and they are not doing so at this time.
The last time the nurses’ contracts were negotiated was in 2016, and while it came close to a strike, a marathon negotiating session stopped a strike from taking place, and the contract was formally adopted on December 16th. The current contract between the nurses and IRMC is set to expire on October 31st.
IRMC has released their own statement on the strike authorization, and while the hospital says that they are disappointed in the vote, it’s not an uncommon occurrence. If a strike should happen, IRMC has a contingency plan in place to make sure that high quality health care can still be provided on a daily basis at the hospital. The statement also says that IRMC’s goal will be to reach a “fair and market competitive” agreement that balances the needs of the organization and the interest of the nurses.
A negotiating session is set for today at 4:00 PM at the Quality Inn.
The following is the statement from IRNA:
Members of the Indiana Registered Nurses Association (IRNA), an affiliate of HealthCare-PSEA, voted overwhelmingly in support of a strike.
Today’s vote authorizes the officers of the union to call for a strike at a time when they feel it is necessary, however it does not guarantee a strike will occur.
The union and the hospital will meet for a bargaining session on Oct. 24, at which time IRNA will respond to the hospital’s last proposal. Bargaining sessions began in August and are scheduled to continue into December.
“Our approach for bargaining is to enter with open minds and an eagerness to reach an agreement that helps our nurses and our hospital continue to move forward. We hope that the hospital shares our willingness to settle, but they’ve unfortunately had a ‘take it or leave it’ approach. That kind of attitude shows they’re not ready to seriously bargain with us,” said IRNA President Kathy Wolfe.
Healthcare unions exercising their right to strike are required to provide their employer with a 10-day notice. The IRNA is not providing a strike notice at this time. The nurses are working under their current contract, which is due to expire on Oct. 31.
The following is a statement from IRMC:
We are disappointed that the union leadership decided to take a strike authorization vote when we have been bargaining in good faith since August and have additional bargaining sessions scheduled prior to the contract expiration. But it is not uncommon for this to occur. In the event of an actual work stoppage, IRMC has a continuity plan to ensure that our mission of providing high quality patient care on a daily basis is not interrupted.
IRMC is one of a few remaining independent community hospitals. Maintaining our future viability necessitates changes to our employee benefit structure. Our goal is to reach a fair and market competitive agreement that balances the needs of the organization and the interests of our employees. We hope that the IRNA/PSEA leadership will engage with us at bargaining table and collaborate on finding solutions.
