Possibility of Missionary Sisters’ Strike Rises as Labor Contract Expires • Asheville Watchdog

Mission Hospital and the Mission Nurses United union were unable to agree on a new collective bargaining agreement by midnight on July 3, the expiration date of the current contract, raising the possibility of a strike.

Nurses told Asheville Watchdog that they and the hospital are far apart on key issues, including employee compensation and retention.

“I feel like we still have a long way to go, and I think (Mission) feels the same way,” said union nurse and negotiating team member Kelly Coward Asheville Watchdog before the three-year contract expired. “Our main goal is to focus on the patients and our community. We need the resources and we need the nurses and we need retention and we need the funds so we can take care of our patients and our community.”

Unionized nurse and member of the negotiating team Jeanne Mould said there had been some progress on proposals focused on safety and working conditions, “but when it comes to some of the proposals that would increase nurse retention, we’re met with a lot of resistance and they’re not even giving way.”

Although the nurses and the mission have scheduled several collective bargaining sessions through the summer, the union is distributing strike pledges and commitments that its members will sign to participate in a work stoppage.

“In other hospitals where a majority of nurses sign these strike pledges, that’s a very strong escalation on our part that makes HCA (Mission’s corporate owner) pause or at least take us seriously because they know a strike is possible,” said nurse Mark Klein, a member of the union’s negotiating team, in a video posted on the Mission Nurses United Facebook page.

Mission Health spokeswoman Nancy Lindell said a strike was “absolutely unnecessary, given the serious effort we have put into negotiations since mid-April.”

“We would be disappointed in the leadership of National Nurses United if they decided to strike,” Lindell said Tuesday before the contract expires. “In addition to our current wage increase proposals, Mission has granted a $20 million annual salary increase outside of the current contract and beyond this agreement. Mission has also made an important proposal that addresses nurses’ concerns about workplace safety by improving our existing safety measures.”

Even if the nurses voted to strike, there is no guarantee it would happen because the hospital and union might be able to reach an agreement between the vote and the strike date. If a strike were imminent, the union would likely give the hospital at least 10 days’ notice, a union spokesman said.

If nurses decide to strike, they would be legally protected from being fired. According to a flyer obtained, National Nurses United is holding three strike training sessions for nurses in July. The watchdog that is circulating among the members.

Lindell said if a strike occurs, “Mission Hospital will remain open,” noting that HCA Healthcare “has the resources to support the needs of our patients.”

She said Mission has taken “proactive steps, including contracting with fully qualified, state-certified and certified nursing staff who can provide high-quality care to the communities we serve.”

The mission is legally obligated to maintain the status quo of the expired contract until a new collective agreement is reached, said National Nurses United spokeswoman Lucy Diavolo.

“Anything that would be subject to negotiation (e.g. working conditions, hours, employee policies) can only be changed through negotiations with the nurses,” Diavolo said. “The status quo is the really important concept here.”

But the nursing staff are still considering options in the fight for what they believe is a better collective agreement. The negotiations will now continue indefinitely until the summer.

In a recent collective bargaining session, Mission proposed a 3.5 percent raise for registered nurses over the life of the two-year contract, said Klein, a member of the union’s collective bargaining team. When accounting for inflation, Mission’s proposal is “completely unacceptable,” Klein said in the Mission Nurses United Facebook video.

“The nurses’ union and the HCA still have very different views on the most important issues, namely staffing and remuneration,” said Klein The watchdog“They don’t want to give up things that will actually cost them money.”

Strikes are expensive for hospitals, which have to compensate for the sudden shortage of staff, Klein said in the video.

“It is a huge challenge for the hospital to hire over 1,000 nurses to replace the striking nurses,” he said. “It is extremely expensive, even for one day.”

More than 10,000 unionized nurses at nine HCA hospitals in six states are currently in the bargaining process, the union’s flier said. National Nurses United is offering strike training classes at those hospitals.

The mission has circulated at least one document obtained from The watchdogThis is a list of frequently asked questions (FAQs) that inform nurses about various rights and choices regarding union membership and the potential for strike action.

The work stoppage came during a tumultuous year for Mission. In February, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services placed the hospital under an imminent endangerment, the most serious sanction a hospital can receive. A report on deficiencies in care that triggered the imminent endangerment described the endangerment of 18 patients between 2022 and 2023 because Mission did not meet federal standards of care. Four of those patients died, according to the report.

Attorney General Josh Stein, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate, sued HCA in December 2023, claiming the nation’s largest health care company had failed to live up to the commitments it made when it bought Mission. In February, the hospital chain’s lawyers asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that HCA never promised to provide quality health care.

But nurses are not convinced that this external pressure has changed much.

“I would hope that all the immediate danger and all the press focused on mission would make a difference, but I’m not convinced that helps anything,” Coward said. “HCA doesn’t care about the patients or what happens to our patients. It’s 100% about profit.”

Mission’s nurses union was formed almost immediately after HCA bought the Mission Health system for $1.5 billion in 2019. The union represents more than 1,600 registered nurses at Mission, just over half of whom are dues-paying members. Between 2022 and 2023, at least 660 registered nurses left Mission, a watchdog investigation found.

Asheville Watchdog is a nonprofit news team producing important stories for Asheville and Buncombe County. Andrew R. Jones is an investigative reporter at Watchdog. Email: [email protected]. The Watchdog’s reporting is made possible by donations from the public. If you would like to support this important public service, visit avlwatchdog.org/donate.

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