Members of the Rochester Union of Nurses and Allied Professionals have voted for the second time this year to authorize a strike at Rochester (N.Y.) General Hospital.
The union represents hundreds of registered nurses, according to the Democrat & Chronicle. Rochester General Hospital is part of Rochester Regional Health.
Union members voted to authorize a strike on Oct. 11, according to CBS affiliate WROC. Union members also voted to authorize a strike in July and went on strike in August. The union and hospital began negotiating a new labor contract in October 2022, according to the Rochester Union of Nurses and Allied Professionals website.
The hospital expressed disappointment about the second strike authorization vote.
"We are extremely disappointed that RUNAP has decided to conduct a second strike authorization vote and are planning to strike again, particularly given the movement Rochester General Hospital has made at the bargaining table to address concerns the union has raised related to wages, staffing, benefits and other topics still open for negotiations," the hospital said in a statement shared with Becker's.
The hospital also noted that the two-day strike in August cost RGH more than $6 million to secure temporary replacement nurses needed to keep the hospital's operations running with minimal interruption. It estimated a second strike would cost RGH even more as the union has indicated plans to strike for five days, from Oct. 23-28.
"RGH does not want another strike and we believe nothing we have proposed or haven't proposed in our negotiations with RUNAP warrants a second strike," the hospital said, adding that it has moved significantly on various bargaining issues, including the key issues of wages and staffing.
Union members cite staffing as a key issue in negotiations.
"There’s never a time when a nurse in the ICU should have more than two patients, and a lot of the times, they should just be one-to-one," Phoebe Sheehan, a registered nurse at RGH, said, according to WROC. "A lot of the times we are seeing inappropriately paired patients with nurses or three patients to one nurse and it definitely becomes a situation that's way too stressful and honestly dangerous."
Union Secretary Gillian Kingsley, a labor and delivery nurse, shared a statement with PBS member news station WXXI alleging that management "dragged their feet in reaching a fair agreement. Today, we are sending a clear message that we will not accept a contract that fails to keep our patients safe."
A strike authorization does not mean a strike will occur. A strike could still be averted if an agreement is reached.
Both parties are scheduled to resume bargaining next week.