Members of the Indiana Registered Nurses Association (IRNA), an affiliate of HealthCare-PSEA, voted Wednesday overwhelmingly in support of a strike at the Indiana Regional Medical Center.
Yesterday’s vote authorizes the officers of the union to call for a strike at a time when they feel it is necessary, however it does not guarantee a strike will occur.
The union and the hospital will meet for a bargaining session today, October 24, at which time IRNA will respond to the hospital’s last proposal. Bargaining sessions began in August and are scheduled to continue into December.
“Our approach for bargaining is to enter with open minds and an eagerness to reach an agreement that helps our nurses and our hospital continue to move forward. We hope that the hospital shares our willingness to settle, but they’ve unfortunately had a ‘take it or leave it’ approach. That kind of attitude shows they’re not ready to seriously bargain with us,” said IRNA President Kathy Wolfe.
Healthcare unions exercising their right to strike are required to provide their employer with a 10-day notice. The IRNA is not providing a strike notice at this time. The nurses are working under their current contract, which is due to expire on October 31.