PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - Nurses at two Rhode Island hospitals returned to work Friday after a strike even though negotiators haven’t agreed on terms for a new contract.
About 2,400 nurses and other health care workers at Rhode Island Hospital and Hasbro Children’s Hospital went on strike Monday.
Hospital operator Lifespan said its contract with the firm supplying temporary nurses ended Friday afternoon, and permanent employees were brought back then.
The strike was set by Local 5098 of the United Nurses and Allied Professionals. The union ended the strike on Thursday.
Union spokesman Ray Sullivan said some union employees’ shifts were canceled Friday, which he called a “retaliatory and punitive measure” by Lifespan.
Lifespan spokesman David Levesque said they expect to have fewer patients than normal because of the strike, so some nurses and technicians originally scheduled to work during the first few days after the strike may be told that their shifts have been canceled. He said union representatives were informed that this likely would happen.
Negotiators meet again Aug. 8.
UNAP accused Lifespan of delaying. It said union members will meet next week to consider votes of no confidence in hospital leadership and an authorization for an extended strike at Rhode Island Hospital.
A second vote of the members would be required to initiate a new strike.
Levesque said Lifespan is resuming contract discussions on a mutually agreed upon date provided by a federal mediator.
The union hasn’t publicly said what contract terms it’s requesting. Lifespan says it offered wage increases of 9 percent to 25 percent over four years.
UNAP represents nurses, technologists, therapists and support staff in Rhode Island, Vermont and Connecticut. This was the first strike for Local 5098.
“There are a lot of frustrated but dedicated caregivers who felt they needed to demonstrate that they were ready to do whatever is necessary to try to fix a broken system within Lifespan and to earn a fair and competitive contract,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan and the union president could not recall another strike among any of the other UNAP locals.
Nationally, nurses’ strikes have become more common. The National Nurses United union says that’s a result of the corporatization of health care.
About 1,800 unionized nurses at Vermont’s largest hospital launched a two-day strike following unsuccessful contract negotiations earlier this month, for example. The Vermont Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals and representatives of the University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington reached tentative agreements on Tuesday on issues that help govern some scheduling issues and pay rates.
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