EVERETT, Wash. — After seven months of bargaining, nurses in the UFCW 3000 union at Providence Everett are striking.
The strike began Tuesday at 6 a.m. and will end Sunday, Nov. 19 at 6 a.m.
In a press release, the union said the strike is over unfair labor practices. Kelli Johnson, a nurse at the hospital and a member of the bargaining team, specifically highlighted staffing shortages as the main concern.
"We have been raising our voices and expressing our concerns for a year and a half now," Johnson said. "We want to have a hospital that has enough nurses that's going to provide good enough care for people coming to the hospital and we haven't seen that yet."
Johnson said a recent wrongful death and negligence claim against Providence Everett helps prove their point. As a policy, the hospital does not comment on active lawsuits.
RELATED: Family files negligence, wrongful death complaint after woman dies waiting hours in Everett ER
"Prior to that happening, we had been raising our voices at city council and county council saying this is something that could happen," Johnson said. "This is probably a really difficult time for the family, to see where they lost their family member is forcing contract negotiations into a strike over the same issue they lost a family member over."
Chief Executive of Providence Swedish North Puget Sound Kristy Carrington said the hospital is prepared for the strike.
"We have brought in replacement nurses who will be taking over the care of our patients starting tomorrow morning," Carrington said Monday.
Replacement nurses along with volunteers, some of whom have medical backgrounds, will fill the void left by the striking nurses.
"We can never completely fill the void of our nurses. Our nurses are amazing," Carrington said.
Despite that sentiment, negotiations have stalled over staffing.
"We know that staffing is a huge challenge," Carrington said.
KING 5 has not seen the specific language both sides were asking for. However, Carrington said they were offering a 21.5% raise over the next three years, giving nurses more money on top of that raise if they decide to come in to cover shifts. The changes would create flexible scheduling so nurses can have a better work-life balance.
Johnson said nurses did not accept that offer because it didn't address their main concern of staffing shortages. Juan Stout, a registered nurse at Providence Everett and a member of the bargaining team, said the raise must also match the compensation nurses are receiving at competing hospitals.
"We are a Level II Trauma center. We are being paid less than our competitors that send us patients," Stout said. "And when you're in a situation like that, you're taking on a higher level of patient, your staffing levels are lower than some other places in the area. It's just something to keep people here. We have to take care of them... We need to staff this hospital the way it used to be staffed so we can take care of this community."
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