28 November 2023
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — Ascension Via Christi has announced its plans for handling a one-day nurses’ strike at two of its Wichita hospitals on Dec. 6. The plan calls for the striking nurses not to return to work for four days instead of just one.
Almost 1,000 nurses at Ascension Via Christi St. Francis and Ascension Via Christi St. Joseph hospitals belong to the National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United.
The nurses are bargaining their first union contracts and have raised concerns about staffing and safety. To promote their message, they held a one-day strike in June. They announced the second strike last week.
Ascension Via Christi says it is disappointed that NNU decided on another strike. Management says that safe, high-quality patient care remains the top priority.
The hospitals will handle the new strike like they did in June- contracting with a staffing agency for registered nurses.
But Ascension Via Chrisit says the contract for the replacement nurses is for a minimum of four days of work. Registered nurses who go on strike will be replaced for those four days. They can return to their scheduled shifts beginning the morning of Dec. 10.
Registered nurses who do not strike can continue to work their regularly scheduled shifts.
“Ascension Via Christi has been bargaining in good faith with NNU to come to a mutually beneficial agreement on initial contracts that support all, and we are committed to not canceling any scheduled bargaining dates,” Ascension said in a news release. “We believe that differences are best resolved respectfully at the bargaining table, and look forward to continuing to work together to reach agreement on contracts for our registered nurses.”