Members of UFCW 3000 are set to begin a five-day strike Nov. 14 at two Providence Regional Medical Center Everett (Wash.) campuses.
The union represents about 1,300 nurses at the hospital, according to a UFCW 3000 news release. Providence Regional Medical Center Everett is part of Renton, Wash.-based Providence, which has 117,000 employees total across seven states.
Union members voted to authorize a strike in October. The union and hospital began negotiating a new labor contract in April. Kristy Carrington, BSN, RN, chief executive of Providence Swedish North Puget Sound, which includes Providence Regional Medical Center Everett, Swedish Edmonds and the Swedish Mill Creek emergency department, told Becker's the hospital has focused on three elements during negotiations: compensation, addressing nurses' workloads, and looking at scheduling flexibility to allow nurses to have choice and control over how and when they work. "Those three things are so important and critical to our ability to be able to bring more nurses to the bedside, but also keep our nurses at the bedside," Ms. Carrington said.
The union contends on its website that Providence has not negotiated in good faith and considered the union's solutions to the major issues facing workers and patients. It also contends in a news release that staff continue to leave for better staffing levels and higher pay at other area hospitals. "Hundreds of nurses have left in a mass exodus in recent years; those remaining are demanding accountability from the hospital's management to create a safer environment for nurses and patients," the release reads.
"We love and value our nurses, and we'll look forward to having them coming back to the bedside after the strike is over," Ms. Carrington said. "In the meantime … replacement nurses … will be coming in and working with us and taking care of our patients during the strike. We also have both clinical and non-clinical volunteers who will be helping out in the hospital throughout the week."
The strike is slated to begin at 6 a.m. Nov. 14 and end at 6 a.m. Nov. 19.