Nurses at University of Illinois Hospital & Clinics strike

Nurses at University of Illinois Hospital & Clinics walked off the job Wednesday morning, with plans to strike for an indefinite length of time.

It’s the second time the nurses have gone on strike since August, which is when their last contract expired.

The nurses are seeking better security to prevent patients from attacking them at the hospital, and they’re asking for higher pay. UI Health has proposed annual raises of less than 3%, according to the union, the Illinois Nurses Association. Meanwhile, the health system has said that the majority of its nurses are already better paid than 90% of nurses in the Chicago area.

UI Health did not provide comment by the start of the strike Wednesday, but said earlier this month of the strike plans that, “Although we are disappointed the INA arrived at this action, we remain committed to maintaining all critical operations of the Hospital & Clinics during a potential work stoppage.”

Though the strike is open-ended, nurses are scheduled to vote Tuesday, if they’re still striking, on next steps.

The bargaining unit that’s on strike consists of about 1,700 nurses, but not all of them will be able to strike at once. Cook County Circuit Court Judge Alison Conlon issued a modified temporary restraining order Tuesday prohibiting 68 nurses at a time, who work in certain units, from going on strike.

The order came after the University of Illinois Board of Trustees filed a motion in Cook County Circuit Court late last week asking that some nurses in the bone marrow transplant unit, the emergency department and a number of intensive care units, among others, be prohibited from striking. The trustees argued in court documents that if all the nurses from those units went on strike, it could be dangerous because of the unique services provided in those units, the specialized needs of the patients, the lack of qualified substitutes and an inability to move the patients to other facilities without jeopardizing their health.

UI Health also said in court documents that it had already secured “a number” of agency nurses to work during the strike. But the system noted that it has been challenging because the strike is shortly before Thanksgiving and it’s not yet known how long the strike will last. Many agency nurses travel from other parts of the country, and may not want to be away from home during the holiday, attorneys for the health system wrote.

The nurses’ last strike was during the week of the Democratic National Convention, which unfolded partly at the United Center near University of Illinois Hospital.

Before that strike, the Conlon issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting 91 nurses per shift from going on strike. That strike lasted for a week. The nurses also went on a weeklong strike in 2020.