University of Chicago Medicine, nurses reach tentative contract to avoid Thursday strike

University of Chicago Medicine and its registered nurses reached a tentative agreement Monday, ahead of a planned strike that has since been canceled.

National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United — which represents 2,800 nurses in the health system — said the one-day strike set for Thursday was canceled after a tentative contract was reached.

The nurses are set to vote on the new contract Tuesday and Wednesday, the union said in a statement.

“Our decision to call a strike forced management to address a number of our outstanding demands at the bargaining table,” Stephanie Gamboa, a bargaining team member and registered nurse in the dermatology clinic, said in the statement. “We’re looking forward to ratifying our new contract, which will improve working conditions for nurses and health care for our patients.”

UChicago Medicine didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Workers had been pushing to have a clinically trained professional weigh in on staffing decisions and to stop having charge nurses, who are in charge of a floor, assigned patients so they can assist other nurses, according to the union.

The unionized health care workers had been negotiating for a contract since September, two months before the current contract ended in November, eventually leading to a 97% affirmative vote in February for strike authorization.

This comes about a month after UChicago Medicine laid off 180 staff members citing high labor and supply costs as well as previous overhiring due to the pandemic.

More than 2,000 UChicago Medicine nurses stepped out for a one-day strike in 2019 but were locked out by the health system for four additional days, forcing ambulances to take patients elsewhere.