Chicago nurses ready for one-day strike at Prime Saint Mary of Nazareth Hospital

Nurses demand hospital management reinstated unlawfully fired co-workers as nurses organize a union

Nurses at Saint Mary of Nazareth Hospital in Chicago are prepared for their one-day strike on June 11 to protest the administration's illegal firings of six nurses in retaliation for union activity, announced National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United (NNOC/NNU).

Nurses at the hospital are in the process of organizing a union represented by NNOC/NNU and are outraged that Prime management has unlawfully terminated experienced nurses. Nurses say their ultimate goal is patient advocacy that improves their hospital and have filed an Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) charge with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) regarding the firings.

Who: Registered nurses at Saint Mary of Nazareth Hospital

What: One-day ULP strike against illegal firings

When: Picketing begins at 7 a.m., rally at 9 a.m.

Where: Saint Mary of Nazareth, 2233 W Division St., Chicago; at the corner of W. Division St. and N. Oakley Blvd.

"We're unionizing to have a voice at our hospital. Unfortunately, Prime seems eager to try to silence us," said Maria Russ, RN at Saint Mary's. "That's unacceptable. Nurses are patient advocates every day, and that means standing up when nurses are fired for unionizing, which we know will benefit us and our patients."

"We're already short staffed on so many units," said Kyle Schutter, RN in Saint Mary's emergency department. "But when nurses try to get organized to demand better from management, we're met with these illegal firings. Prime wants to crush our union now, but our strike is going to show them it's already too late."

Saint Mary's nurses filed for their certified union election with the NLRB on May 20 and held a public rally on May 27 to protest Prime management's retaliatory union busting.

Nurses previously gave ten-days' notice of their strike following an overwhelming show of support from nurses.

National Nurses United is the largest and fastest-growing union and professional association of registered nurses in the United States with more than 225,000 members nationwide. NNU affiliates include California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, DC Nurses Association, Michigan Nurses Association, Minnesota Nurses Association, and New York State Nurses Association.