Nurses plan 5-day strike at Meriter hospital in Madison as contract talks stall

Yahoo

20-05-2025

Pat Raes, a Meriter hospital nurse and president of SEIU Wisconsin, addresses union nurses and their supporters at a rally April 8, 2025. On Tuesday the union announced it would strike starting May 27. (Photo by Erik Gunn/Wisconsin Examiner)
Nurses at Madison's Meriter hospital plan to walk off the job for five days starting Tuesday, May 27, after negotiations on a new union contract ended Monday night without an agreement.
The hospital management and Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Wisconsin, which represents about 950 nurses at the hospital, are divided over pay, security provisions and whether the hospital should commit to specific ratios of how many patients are under a nurse's care.
The union and the hospital management have scheduled another bargaining session for Monday, May 26 — the day before the strike is scheduled to start. If the strike goes forward, it is scheduled to last for five days, with union members returning on Sunday, June 1.
In order to allow hospitals to secure temporary replacement staff or move patients, federal law requires hospital workers to give at least 10 days notice before striking, which SEIU Wisconsin gave May 9. The union also opted for a fixed duration for the walkout.
'We don't take going on strike lightly, but we truly feel in order to make the changes that are necessary we're willing to fight to make things safe for our patients,' said Pat Raes, a long-time Meriter nurse and also president of SEIU Wisconsin, in an interview May 14.
'Nurses have been clear with Meriter management that we will strike for patient and staff safety, improved compensation to retain nurses, and staffing solutions that include the voices of bedside nurses who care for patients day in and day out,' declared a union statement issued Tuesday morning. 'Meriter is still not listening to the nurses.'
The hospital, UnityPoint Health-Meriter, is one of 17 regional hospitals in the large, Iowa-centered nonprofit health care chain, UnityPoint Health.
'We've been in a union environment for decades and know that a strike could happen. We always work very, very hard to avoid that,' said Sherry Casali, market chief nursing officer for the hospital, in a statement released to the press Tuesday. 'I think both parties would prefer not to have a strike.'
In past years, the union and the hospital have worked with federal mediators during contract talks. This year federal mediation wasn't available after President Donald Trump issued an executive order in March gutting the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS), nursesan independent federal agency.
Although that order was blocked by a federal judge May 6, the union and hospital turned instead to the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission.
Defined patient-nurse ratios have been a longtime goal for union nurses. California and Massachusetts both have state laws setting certain minimum ratios, according to NurseJournal.org. A limited number of other states require hospitals to publish their nurse-to-staff ratios.
'The more patients you take care of once you get above that ratio puts every patient that you're taking care of at higher risk for complications and higher risk for mortality,' Raes said.
The statement the hospital issued Tuesday acknowledged that 'both parties agree on the importance of safe and effective staffing,' but said that mandated ratios 'limit flexibility' and could make it more difficult 'to adjust to patient needs and staff availability in real time.'
The hospital statement said the facility relies on its charge nurses, who 'are key to staffing and have clear avenues to discuss any patient care needs throughout each shift.'
There are limits to flexibility, however, according to the members of the nursing staff. Flexibility 'sometimes works and sometimes doesn't,' said Amanda Husk, a postpartum nurse. 'We just know there's always a base need for nurses to make sure patients are safe.'
Husk said ensuring that the ratio of nurses is always sufficient 'also prevents burnout and turnover of nurses. That's a big deal.'
Raes said nurses also wanted stronger security measures — including metal detectors — in light of violent incidents at hospitals across the country that have led to injuries or deaths of health care workers.
The hospital's statement said its security staff regularly updates security measures and plans additional unspecified changes this summer.
On pay, Raes said that while nurses in their first 12 years have had significant raises, those at the upper end of the scale for pay and longevity don't see their pay keeping up.
The shift to a 401(k) retirement plan from a standard pension has diminished the incentive for more experienced nurses to stick around, said Raes, while the original pension plan encouraged longevity on the job.
Meriter's statement said the hospital's most recent pay offer would keep its nurses 'some of the best-paid nurses in Wisconsin' as well as in Madison.
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