Cook County Health nurses go on one-day strike

Hundreds of striking Cook County Health nurses walk the picket line Thursday outside Stroger Hospital. | Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times

With Aretha Franklin’s “Respect” blaring from a loudspeaker, 200 or so Cook County Health nurses stood outside Stroger Hospital Thursday, protesting what they say are chronic staffing shortages.

Nurses, who are planning a one-day protest, have said they are at the “breaking point.” And they say their demands aren’t unreasonable, given that the county has, they say, ample federal COVID-19 relief funds.

“People’s expectations coming out of the pandemic is that — if you’ve got $1 billion in COVID relief money, as the county has — that should be put back into the system, into frontline workers,” said Elizabeth Lalasz, 55, a nurse at Stroger for the past 11 years. “We can’t call us heroes last year, and then not do anything with us this year. We’re insignificant? We’re not that disposable.”

The nurses also say that as part of contract negotiations, they’ve been asked to pay unreasonably high health insurance premiums — premiums that would essentially eliminate any pay raise.

But the nurses say their primary concern is low staffing. They say that because Cook County Health doesn’t turn away patients without insurance, they are routinely dealing with the region’s most chronically sick — patients that often require more intensive care.

“They’re piling work on and piling work on, and with this past pandemic, they’ve had nurses doing everything from emptying garbage to mopping floors,” said Latanya Dunn, 48, a nurse in the endocrinology department.

There are about 1,200 county-employed nurses, union representatives said. But the Illinois Labor Relations Board ruled earlier this week about 380 nurses could not join the strike in the interests of public safety. A court ruling Wednesday lowered that number slightly. The nurses are represented by the National Nurses Organizing Committee.

Hundreds of striking Cook County Health nurses walk the picket line Thursday morning outside Stroger Hospital on the Near West Side.

A spokeswoman for Cook County Health said in anticipation of the strike, some elective and “non-urgent” procedures or appointments were rescheduled. Other patients will be given online appointments. Cook County Health also planned to bring in extra “agency nurses” to boost staff at trauma and emergency departments.

On Friday, about 2,500 county workers — custodians, technicians and administrative staff — are expected to walk off of their jobs. The workers represented by SEIU Local 73 have been negotiating for a new contract for months. The sticking points wages and health insurance premiums.

The strike Friday is expected to further impact Cook County Health because some of those hitting the picket lines work in its facilities, including housekeeping, food service, medical technologists and physician assistants.

Edna Ramos, 66, a nurse in the Coronary Care Unit, joins hundreds of striking Cook County Health nurses to walk the picket line Thursday morning outside Stroger Hospital on the Near West Side.