Reform Resurrection

For nearly three days in November, OLR nurses testified about widespread wrongdoing by OLR management and some doctors during last June's AFSCME organizing campaign. Despite their compelling testimony, a Hearing Officer of the Chicago Region of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) recommended that last year's union election should not be set aside.

In the face of this setback at the NLRB, OLR nurses have watched conditions only get worse since a majority voted against AFSCME representation last summer. As a result, nurses on the organizing committee remain committed to building a strong union for OLR nurses through AFSCME.

OLR management ran a dishonest and costly anti-union campaign last June. Administrators and some doctors worked overtime to intimidate and confuse nurses before the election. Management's anti-union campaign-the threats, constant questions about how nurses were voting, and attempts to keep nurses from communicating with each other-created an environment so thick with fear, misinformation and tension that a fair election was not possible. As a result, AFSCME has filed exceptions to the hearing officer's recommendations to the National Labor Relations Board in Washington, D.C.

Resurrection Health Care and Provena Health completed the merger of the two companies on November 1, creating the largest Catholic health system in Illinois.

During the approval process, AFSCME highlighted the discrepancies in nurse staffing and pension benefits between the two systems.  AFSCME urged the two parties to adopt the policies and practices that will help ensure the best healthcare for patients and most secure retirement for employees. 

Resurrection and Provena announced earlier the organizational structure of the new system that will result from the merger.  Click here for more information.

Resurrection has announced that as of December 25, 2011 all remaining lab employees will become employees of Alverno Clinical Laboratories.  This follows a move in 2009 where RHC outsourced its laboratory services to Alverno in Indiana. 

In a memo to employees announcing the outsourcing, RHC CEO Sandra Bruce stated that while the seniority and wages will remain the same the benefits package for the new Alverno employees will be different.  Bruce provided no details on the difference between the current RHC benefits package and the Alverno benefits package. 

On July 5, Resurrection Health Care and Provena Health announced that they had signed an agreement to merge the two systems, creating the state's largest Catholic health care network. 

Employees are concerned that the merger talks, which began in February, went on behind closed doors, with no opportunity for employee or community concerns to be heard.  The merger announcement did not provide any information regarding employees' job security. 

The merger will require approval from the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board.  Resurrection employees and their community supporters plan to scrutinize the merger proposal and provide state regulators with essential information regarding its impact on patients and hospital operations.   

After enduring an oppressive and Illegal anti-union campaign, OLR nurses vow to continue their struggle to win a voice at work through AFSCME.

Following a vote of 159-98 with 16 challenged ballots, AFSCME Council 31 will file charges with the NLRB before the election is certified.

Supervisors and doctors threatened, harassed and interrogated nurses in the weeks leading up to the election.  OLR even distributed t-shirts telling nurses to vote no-- with "AFSCME" written in dripping blood.

Despite the setback, OLR nurses remain unwavering in their commitment to improve patient care and win a voice for nurses through AFSCME.