AMITA Nurse Strike Ends, New Contract Approved

JOLIET, IL — Hundreds of nurses have been walking the picket lines outside AMITA Health Saint Joseph Medical Center since July 4, but the picketing is over. On Monday, the Joliet nurses voted to approve a new contract, which brings the strike to an end.

The nurses will return to work at 7 a.m. Wednesday, according to Pat Meade, one of the AMITA nurses and the union's local representative.

A total of 314 nurses voted in favor of the new contract and 235 were against it, Meade said. Four votes were spoiled, she said. According to the vote total, the new nursing contract passed with 57.2 percent of the vote.

Meade said that nearly 170 nurses did not vote in the election. Monday marked the second time the Joliet nurses voted on a contract proposal since the strike began. The first contract was rejected.

"We are going in there with our heads held high because we went out there on strike for the right cause," Meade told Joliet Patch's editor Monday night.

Meade said the nurses believe that they will have to push state lawmakers in Springfield to enact legislation to improve the staffing levels at the Joliet hospital, particularly, in light of the new coronavirus pandemic.

"AMITA would not move on staffing any further," Meade told Joliet Patch.

Meade said that the nurses were pleased that their new three-year labor agreement will include the Extended Illness Bank, known as the E.I.B. Meade said that AMITA management had been fighting to take away the fringe benefit for the nurses, but the nurses were able to keep it in the new labor program that runs through 2022.

"That was really key," Meade said. "We need health care, too."

Meade said the new contract keeps the salary step schedule in place. Instead of receiving a raise for 2020, Meade said, the nurses who are full-time will get a $500 bonus and the part-time nurses will get a bonus of $250. The labor agreement includes a 2 percent step wage increase for 2021 and a 2 percent step wage increase for 2022.

Meade said that the new contract does not include any cost of living salary increases, which had been part of the salary step increases in years past.

There are caps on the health insurance premium contributions at 25 percent for full-time nurses and 35 percent for part-time nurses, according to the Illinois Nurses Association.

Overall, Meade wanted to extend her thanks and appreciate to all the people in the Joliet area who supported the nurses as they walked the picket lines these past two-and-a-half weeks.

She was especially pleased to see so many area lawmakers and mayors support the nurses.

"Thank you to our legislators and state representatives and mayors. They really cared and stood behind us," she said.