A nearly six-week long strike of Ohio’s St. Vincent Medical Center’s RNs appears to be over as the UAW makes an ‘unconditional offer to return to work.’
TOLDEDO, OH—A strike that began in early May appears to be over.
On Wednesday, according to the Toledo Blade, the United Auto Workers announced “a tentative agreement with Mercy Health to end the 38-day St. Vincent Medical Center nurses strike.”
“The agreement addresses many of the nurses’ major concerns, including quality-of-life issues. Therefore, on June 12th the union agreed to end its strike at Mercy Health St. Vincent Medical Center and made an unconditional offer to return to work on behalf of all former strikers,” according to a UAW statement.
When the nurses walked out in early May over “stable benefits, on-call regulations, and over-time,” they were joined by technical and other support staff employees.
Although those groups settled their contract disputes with Mercy Health on June 1, they are represented by a different UAW local.
“Hospital officials said their contract proposal was reached on June 1 but not presented to the Local 2213 membership (the nurses) for a vote at the time,” according to the Toledo Blade.
Although it may be coincidental, the UAW’s ‘unconditional offer to return to work’ comes one day after Mercy Health hosted a hiring fair for nurse positions at St. Vincent Hospital.
During the six-week strike, strikers endured financial hardships, and the UAW’s settlement does not appear to sitting well with some of the striking RNs.
On the union’s Facebook page, several RNs voiced their criticism of the situation.
The comments on a local news channel’s Facebook page are even more critical of the UAW’s handling of the situation.
One commenter inferred that one reason the UAW may have ended the strike so abruptly is that the UAW is that RNs are circulating a decertification petition.
The UAW’s ratification vote is taking place on Thursday and Friday.
