Nurses represented by National Nurses United held a two-day strike at Saint Louis University Hospital in St. Louis last month, The Labor Tribune reported Jan. 8.
The nurses, part of NNU affiliate National Nurses Organizing Committee, began their strike on Dec. 27 and concluded it on Dec. 29. Saint Louis University Hospital, a 365-bed facility, is part of St. Louis-based SSM Health.
Union members voted to authorize a strike in early December. The union and hospital began negotiating a new labor contract in May. In a statement shared with Becker's after the strike, hospital officials said union leaders broke off talks in December to strike, appeared at the homes of some SSM Health leaders and board members last month, and continue to delay negotiations and a contract for hospital nurses.
"During at least one home visit, union representatives were peering through windows and rifling through personal mail. They even went so far as approaching young children at home to get their message across," hospital officials said.
The union told Becker's SSM "never communicates its staffing and safety plans" and "simply rejects the nurses' proposals to improve staffing and safety." Union officials also contend that hospital officials have not bargained in good faith and instead have been actively recruiting nurses to leave the union.
Regarding appearing at the homes of hospital leaders, the union said: "Nurses did go to the homes of board members and executives to leave literature at the door. No one went through mail or peered into windows."
The December strike was the second one the union has called in the last four months at Saint Louis University Hospital. The union's first strike was in September.