Skilled maintenance workers at six Prime Healthcare hospitals in Illinois plan to go on strike July 2, with their union alleging that Prime has interfered with their right to organize and bargain collectively.
More than 50 workers will go on strike, and the strike will be open-ended at this point, lasting until Prime returns to good faith bargaining, according to a spokesperson for the union, the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 399.
The union members include workers who maintain HVAC systems, plumbing and other systems, according to the union, and they work across six hospitals: Saint Mary of Nazareth Hospital in Chicago; Saint Elizabeth Hospital in Chicago; Holy Family Medical Center in Des Plaines; Resurrection Medical Center in Chicago; Saint Francis Hospital in Evanston; and Saint Joseph Hospital in Elgin. Saint Elizabeth is closed, but workers still maintain the building, according to a union spokesperson.
The strike comes after the union filed 10 unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board earlier this month against Prime hospitals and MedSpace Services, which is a subsidiary of Prime Healthcare Management, Inc. that provides management and support services within the Prime system.
Each of the charges alleges that Prime “has intentionally and repeatedly bargained in bad faith with its employees’ exclusive bargaining representative.”
A MedSpace spokesperson said in a statement Tuesday that the hospitals have plans in place to ensure their operations are uninterrupted during the strike, and MedSpace doesn’t expect patient care to be affected.
“From day one, MedSpace Services has respected the rights of its workers to engage in lawful, protected union activity, including the right to organize,” the MedSpace spokesperson said in the statement. “MedSpace has bargained in good faith during all our negotiations with IUOE 399 and will continue to do so, with respect for our employees and in support of our shared future.
Kendall Paraharm, a business agent for Local 399, previously told the Tribune that Prime, initially, wouldn’t recognize Local 399 as the representative for the bargaining units, even though it represented them under Ascension. Then, Paraharm said, when Prime did recognize Local 399 and start contract negotiations, the offers it made would have meant losses of accrued vacation time and seniority for workers, among other things.
The strike is the latest labor woe facing Prime, which bought eight Illinois hospitals from Ascension last year.
Nurses at Prime’s Saint Mary of Nazareth Hospital in Chicago went on a one-day strike June 11 to protest what they described as Prime’s “illegal firings” of nurses for what they said were protected union activities. Following the strike, the Saint Mary nurses voted to join the union the National Nurses Organizing Committee (NNOC), an affiliate of National Nurses United (NNU).
Also, nurses at Prime’s Saint Joseph Hospital in Joliet filed a lawsuit against Prime and previous owner Ascension alleging “severe understaffing of nurses.” They filed the lawsuit June 4 in Will County Circuit Court.
A spokesperson for Saint Joseph said in a statement Tuesday that the hospital does not comment on pending litigation and most of the allegations involve periods of time during which Ascension owned the hospital. “Patient care is always our top priority with recent investments to support caregivers, and our current staffing practices align with national best practices for quality and safety,” the Saint Joseph spokesperson said in the statement.
Ascension did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.