Unionized nurses at Loretto Hospital have filed an unfair labor practice charge claiming the troubled safety-net hospital won’t disclose dire staffing shortages.
The charge comes as nurses represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union are gridlocked with executives over staffing issues in stalled contract negotiations that began January, union spokesperson Anders Lindall said.
Loretto has lost 30 percent of its nursing staff since 2020 and is down to 93 full-time nurses, with only a portion of them working full time as leaders try to cut costs that “undermines the hospital’s ability to provide adequate care to patients,” according to a union news release.
The union is asking the National Labor Relations Board to compel Loretto to release daily schedules, payrolls and other staffing documents that they say have not been turned over during negotiations — in violation of federal labor law.
“We love our jobs, our community, and our patients,” union president Jessica Bell said in the news release. “But management’s self-inflicted staffing crisis is jeopardizing patient safety, efficiency, and quality of care.”
In a statement, Loretto spokesperson Dayna Simms said the hospital’s bargaining team continues to meet with the union to discuss “hospital-provided data” that already addresses their information requests.
“Loretto Hospital is committed to continuing to work in good faith with AFSCME in the collective bargaining process,” Simms said in the statement.
In August 2023, the hospital settled a new contract with about 200 SEIU Healthcare workers — including emergency room technicians, mental health workers and radiology technicians — after a 11-day strike that drew Rev. Jesse Jackson and a landslide of local officials to the picket line.
Loretto raised wages after the fraught negotiations, which SEIU Healthcare hoped would attract more workers and shore up what it also called dangerous staffing shortages.
The embattled hospital reshaped its leadership after Block Club Chicago revealed corruption scandals that funneled COVID-19 vaccines to wealthy neighborhoods and sent millions in contracts to insiders.
The hospital continues to experience fallout from the scandal after a former executive was charged last month with wire fraud, money laundering and embezzlement. Prosecutors called it a “scheme” to defraud the hospital out of $15 million using fake companies.
Workers have demanded more public accountability for the West Side safety-net hospital that receives millions in public funding.
This story was initially published by Block Club Chicago.