Nurses who recently unionized at Our Lady of Angels Retirement Home in Joliet, Ill., are protesting after the nursing home announced its closure, CBS Chicago reported Dec. 19.
Employees voted to unionize in summer 2021 and have been negotiating a contract with the retirement home since October. Recently, management indicated the 80-bed home will close next year after 60 years of operation.
"For them to tell us they have been thinking about doing this for a few years, but then not do it until the workers won their election and formed their union, and then you drop this bomb on them in the middle of contract negotiations, that sounds kind of retaliatory to me," Illinois Nurses Association union organizer Jessica Prewitt, told CBS Chicago.
The nursing home is working to relocate residents and help its employees find jobs elsewhere.
"Our Lady of Angels can't operate as a standalone facility and continues to not meet operating costs every single month," Sister Jeanne Bessette, president of Sisters of Saint Francis of Mary Immaculate, which oversees Our Lady of Angels, told CBS Chicago in an email. "The resident census is less than half of what it was when we announced closure. We are assisting every resident to find a new home, including holding fairs for other long-term care facilities to come and help welcome residents. Additionally, we are holding recruitment fairs for employees. The entire Joliet area long-term care facilities are understaffed and hoping to hire employees once OLA closed its doors."