Dive Brief:
- Next Thursday, more than 6,400 registered nurses are participating in a two-day strike at the University of Chicago Medical Center and eight California hospitals.
- The nurses say they are striking over concerns about staffing and patient care issues; the hospitals claim they are striking over pay.
- The nurses are part of National Nurses United (NNU), which is based in California, and the California Nurses Association.
Dive Insight:
"Across the country, nurses are unified in insisting that hospitals improve staffing, which far too often is compromising patient safety and other patient protections," NNU co-president Karen Higgins said in a written statement.
According to UCMC officials, the negotiations with their nurses have focused mostly on wages. "It is troubling that NNU would call a strike and take nurses away from their jobs and patients, particularly before the NNU and UCMC have finished negotiations," Debra Albert, the hospital's senior vice president of patient care services and chief nursing officer, said in a written statement. "UCMC didn't want a strike, and we have negotiated in good faith for many months."