By Tessa Roy, WPRO News
Rhode Island Hospital was again accepting stroke patients and was no longer on diversion as of Tuesday afternoon, but nurses and other healthcare professionals who are members of the United Nurses and Allied Professionals (UNAP) were still on the picket lines during the second day of their strike.
Sherry-Ann Johnson, who is on the executive board of the union’s negotiating committee, said those striking have heard from their patients inside.
“It’s still a difficult situation. We’re hearing from patients inside regarding some situations that have arisen, but the support from our patients has been overwhelming as well,” she said.
Hasbro Children’s Hospital nurse Kathleen Score said patients were the primary reason for the strike.
“What makes us sad is when people think it’s about the money. It’s somewhat about the money, absolutely. But that’s not what’s driven us to this. It’s the patients, it’s their care,” she said.
Rhode Island Hospital nurse Lynn O’Neill agreed, saying many of the nurses cried as they walked out of work to strike on Monday.
“Most of all, the patients deserve the best. I’m sorry, they deserve stretchers that move correctly, we deserve IV pumps that correctly run, we deserve our supplies when we need them,” she said.
The strike came after ongoing contract talks between UNAP and the hospitals’ parent company Lifespan hit a snag. The union, which said members have been working on terms of an expired contract since June 30, previously voted down a three-year contract offer from Lifespan.
Johnson said there had not been further talks between Lifespan and UNAP since the start of the strike. Rhode Island Hospital previously said it was “disappointed” the nurses went through with the strike and that it offered “extremely competitive wage and benefits packages valued at tens of millions of dollars.”
“The union rejected a restructured proposal from the hospital that included generous wage increases ranging from 9 to 25 percent over four years,” read a statement from the hospital on Monday. “Instead, UNAP leadership submitted wage increases of up to 28%, and added significant additional economic proposals that rendered their offer simply unrealistic.”
Temporary nurses have been hired to work at the hospitals during the strike, and the Department of Health said its staff is also on site monitoring. The strike is expected to end on Friday afternoon.
