Nurses at Madison’s Meriter Hospital plan strike, citing contract negotiation stalemate

Hundreds of nurses at UnityPoint Health-Meriter Hospital in Madison say they’ll go on strike next week, after months of contract negotiations.

The nurses, who are represented by SEIU Wisconsin, say demands around staffing levels and patient safety are not being heeded, and they’ll walk out beginning Tuesday, with a planned end to the strike June 1.

Hospital leaders disputed the union’s characterization of negotiations but said they are “well prepared to continue caring for patients and maintaining operations during the strike.”

More than 930 nurses are represented by the bargaining unit, which has been in negotiations since January, according to Pat Raes, a nurse at Meriter and SEIU Wisconsin president. She said negotiations have centered on “safety for the nurses, safety for our patients, safety in the work environment.”

“We want to make it a so that people are not afraid to come to work,” she said. “We feel the hospitals should be committed to making sure that we have a safe work environment, be it staffing solutions, approaches to patient care, or the environment we’re working in.”

The union has also requested changes to compensation and staffing ratios. Raes said that over her 36-year nursing career, patients have gotten sicker and expectations for care have changed, with health care workers expected to turn beds over much faster.

“It makes it harder to do your job well and feel like you’re doing a high quality job,” she said.

Raes argued that hospital management walked away from the table after hours of discussion Monday.

In a statement, Sherry Casali, a market chief nursing officer at Meriter, disputed that characterization of the negotiations, saying that progress has been made and the hospital is “dedicated to continuing these negotiations to reach an agreement on the issues most important to both parties.”

“We believe our most recent proposal will continue to keep Meriter nurses as some of the best-paid nurses in Wisconsin, as well as the top-paid nurses in our local community,” she said.

Listen to SEIU Wisconsin Executive Director Louis Davis talk about the pending strike on “Wisconsin Today.”

One area of dispute is staff ratios, with SEIU requesting a certain number of patients per nurse. Raes said that will help nurses provide better care. Meriter leadership argued this would “limit flexibility, reduce nurse autonomy and lead to unintended outcomes.”

The union and hospital management will return to the bargaining table during the strike, with a scheduled meeting May 29. Both sides blamed the other for extending the length of bargaining.

“We are disappointed that the union has not made themselves available for additional bargaining sessions prior to this date,” Casali said. “Meriter leadership will remain available throughout this week to return to the table and we encourage SEIU to do the same.”

“If management is willing to actually address the issues that we have brought to the table, rather than following their own list of priorities, we’re more than happy to come back to the table,” Raes said.

Pending any changes, nurses will walk off beginning at 6:30 a.m. on May 27.