In late June, nearly 2000 nurses at three Ascension hospitals in Texas and Kansas held the largest nurses’ strike in both states’ histories, protesting the Catholic health care giant’s unsafe staffing practices.
In response, Ascension executives locked nurses out of the hospital for an additional three days.
“We’re ready to go back to work, just like we’re ready to settle a contract that gives us what we need to take care of our patients,” said Marvin Ruckle, a neonatal intensive care unit RN at Ascension Via Christi St. Joseph. “Management’s efforts to bust our union won’t work. We unionized to fight for our patients, and these attempts to divide nurses aren’t going to stop us.”
Other unions, community members, and elected officials joined nurses on the picket lines at Austin’s Seton Medical Center and at Wichita’s Ascension Via Christi St. Francis and Ascension Via Christi St. Joseph, calling on Ascension executives to prioritize patient care and safe working conditions.
Sources:
https://www.texastribune.org/2023/06/27/texas-nurses-strike/