If they do strike, the union would provide a 10-day notice to the company to allow Ascension Seton time to set up strike nurses to cover shifts. If they reach an impasse, there are other tools they can use to get the company's attention before a strike, she said. Instead, the union will bargain with the company in good faith, she said. "That's not something any nurse wants," Critendon said. This vote does not mean that there will be a nursing strike any time soon. "We are more than ready to win a strong first contract, which will help with nursing staff retention." "We are looking forward to bargaining for a fair contract to improve patient safety, as well as competitive wages to keep Austin nurses working here in our community," said Geovana Hill, a nurse in Ascension Seton Medical Center's renal unit. Now the nurses' union and Ascension Seton will bargain for a contract. Voting to become a union is an initial step. Ascension has more than enough money to retain nurses and provide better conditions."Įxpanding nursing students: Growing more nurses in Austin: Galen Nursing College opens in partnership with St. Matthew Clark, a registered nurse in the intensive care unit, said that during the pandemic, "we saw lots of staff leave our hospital because of the worsening conditions. In the fiscal year ending June 30, 2020, the Ascension Seton system had $270.9 million in revenue after expenses and $1.1 billion in net assets according to its IRS Form 990 filing required for a nonprofit organization. The traveling nurses who came into the hospital to help during COVID-19 staff shortages "enlightened us to realize Ascension does have the money to place back into patient care and retain staff nurses at Ascension," Critendon said. "For a lot of nurses, you go home and feel like 'I didn't do my best work, I wasn't able to provide the best nursing I know I'm capable of because the resources weren't provided,'" she said. "When you are short-staffed, those sorts of things get swept under the rug when other people are crashing and you need help keeping them alive," Critendon said. Resource nurses are also the nurses who can answer a call from a patient for water, help using the bathroom or help calling their loved one. Those are nurses who aren't assigned to a particular patient but are able to lend an extra hand in caring for patients or an extra set of eyes when monitoring patients. Now, they are mostly staffed three patients to one nurse, she said.Ĭritendon said there often aren't resource nurses available. "Our concerns fell on deaf ears."Ĭritendon said in her intensive care unit, a normal ratio would be two patients to one nurse. They wanted "safer patient care" and "better ratios for our patients," she said. "We realized that nurses' voices were not being heard," she said. Mental health: Stress of pandemic has added to mental health struggles for Austin-area nurses The COVID-19 effectĬritendon said there were things that the nurses at Ascension Seton Medical Center wanted to address with management before the coronavirus pandemic struck, but the pandemic became the catalyst for a number of nurses to consider forming a union. "We do hope this movement will inspire other hospitals' nurses who want to give the highest quality care," Critendon said. Taylor Critendon, a registered nurse in the hospital's intensive care unit and part of the organizing effort, said she is not aware of union organizing efforts at other local hospitals, including other Ascension Seton properties. We are united in our commitment to care for our community and those that we are privileged to serve." About 2,500 nurses in Texas, including in hospitals in El Paso, Corpus Christi and Brownsville, are organized by the national unionĪscension Seton declined to make an executive available for an interview, instead providing a statement: "Consistent with the ethical and religious directives for Catholic Health Care Services, we respect our nurses’ right to organize themselves through union representation. It is the largest hospital in Texas to have formed a nurses union. This union measure - which passed with 72% voting in favor, 385 to 151 - only covers the nurses at this one hospital. The new unit of the National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United will cover about 800 nurses at the hospital. Nurses at Ascension Seton Medical Center in Austin have voted to unionize.
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