As a strike against Mercy Health by local nurses, technicians, and support staff moved into its second day Tuesday, not all picket line duty was confined to St. Vincent Hospital on Cherry Street.
About 10 nurses and support staff at Mercy Health Cancer Center at St. Anne Hospital on Sylvania Avenue also are part of the United Auto Workers bargaining unit and taking part in the strike.
They staged their own walkout Monday and have been manning picket lines at the West Toledo medical facility.
The strike began after labor negotiations, which started July 30, were stalled regarding the increase in health-care premiums over a three-year contract and limits on the number of hours workers must be “on call” during the year.
A St. Vincent official has said “on call” work is voluntary, but union officials said it is mandatory for some workers.
Because St. Anne Hospital has but a few UAW members, union members from St. Vincent were helping to man picket lines there.
“They needed help so we’re here to help them out,” said Annette Brandon, a nurse at St. Vincent who was a picket line captain Tuesday outside St. Anne.
Patients getting care at the St. Anne Cancer Center have been transferred to the health system’s Perrysburg Cancer Center, Mercy Health officials confirmed.
Outside St. Vincent, dozens of picketers remained present Tuesday. Administrators there said patient services continue with replacement workers brought in to offset those on strike.
Mercy Health officials praised the “highly certified and competent” replacement workers they brought in.
“The competent care that these folks are receiving, not only with nurses but with our technical and service support — the housekeepers, the dietary people have been fabulous,” said Jodi Pahl, chief nursing officer for Mercy Health-Toledo.
Services in the intensive care unit, emergency room, and birthing unit are all up and running, hospital officials said.
“We’ve been here 163 years. We give excellent care to our community and that’s not going to change,” Ms. Pahl said.
“A couple” of patients have been transferred to other hospitals, Ms. Pahl said. Patients who have to be transferred might go to other Mercy Health facilities or other systems.
ProMedica spokesman Tausha Moore said the health system had not received more patient transfer volumes than usual, and patient volumes at its Toledo-area hospitals “are still within normal ranges.”
Likewise, University of Toledo Medical Center spokesman Tyrel Linkhorn said the hospital — the former Medical College of Ohio Hospital — had “no noticeable change in patient volumes or transfers.”
As picketers gathered Monday, many people present told The Blade that patient care was one of their reasons to strike, citing too-low staffing levels and mandatory on-call policies that stretch employees too thin.
Meanwhile, the nurses, technicians, and staff workers on strike gained more allies Tuesday as Local 92, Toledo firefighters, announced their support for union-sanctioned work stoppage.
“Toledo firefighters could not be more supportive of the striking workers at Mercy Health,” Dan Desmond, president of Local 92 said Tuesday morning during a news conference held at United Auto Workers Local 12, which represents nearly 900 lab technicians and staff workers at the hospital.
Approximately 950 nurses at the hospital are represented by UAW Local 2213.
Mr. Desmond said his union and the two UAW bargaining units “are mission aligned” as unions.
“Firefighters rescue people who are injured, hospitals patch them up every day. Both jobs are vital to the safety and health of northwest Ohio,” he said.
At the news conference, Toledo Councilman Yvonne Harper also expressed her support for workers at the hospital, which is in the councilman’s ward. Ms. Harper joined workers on the picket line at the hospital on Monday.
“We need them to come back to the bargaining table and fashion a plan to put patients and workers ahead of profits. This, after all, is a business that’s in the business to improve providing health care,” she said.
First Published May 7, 2019, 5:03 p.m.
