SLU Hospital Nurses Strike Over Staff Shortages, Temp Staffing

Nurses at SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital are striking today and tomorrow. Chief among their complaints are union busting by management and the outsourcing of jobs to nurses from temp agencies, according to their union, National Nurses United.

The walkout comes after the hospital and the union failed to come to an agreement for a new contract, which has been in negotiations since May, and a one-day strike in September.

“We condemn SSM for trying to break the union by encouraging nurses to leave the union instead of bargaining in good faith,” said registered nurse Maddi O’Leary in a statement. “SSM seems to be dragging this process out and encouraging the decertification of our union. This is why we are striking.”

SSM SLU Hospital is the only hospital in the region with a unionized nursing staff. But the nursing shortage identified by the union is not unique to the hospital. A workforce report from the Missouri Hospital Association shows that St. Louis has a 18.4 percent nurse vacancy rate.

In June, SLU nurses told the RFT that they believe that’s created safety issues in the hospital, as overworked nurses have taken on more patients, and contributed to low nurse retention.

“The goal was for ER nurses to take care of three patients, but I have found that even that can be challenging because of the acuity of patients we take care of,” said Jessica Tulk, a ER nurse and member of the National Nurses Organizing Committee bargaining team, at the time. “We’re stretched so thin that I’m taking care of twice as many people.”

But the union has also said that the hospital has used the region’s vacancy rate as a smokescreen and that understaffing is, instead, profit-focused and has been an excuse to turn to nurses from temp agencies rather than hiring more staff.

“We are taking time away from our patients to assist temporary agency nurses. Staff nurses can give our patients the continuity of care they need in their medical treatment,” said registered nurse Earline Shepard in a statement.

This is just the latest discord at SLU Hospital. In April 2022, the nurses issued a vote of no confidence against two hospital administrators, Rita Fowler, vice president of patient care services and chief nursing officer, and Chris Greenley, human resources director. Understaffing and broken promises around pay were chief among the nurses complaints at the time.