By WPRO News
Rhode Island Hospital is upping the ante in its labor talks with the nurses union, which says it will start a three day strike without a contract agreement.
Spokesperson Christina O’Reilly said the hospital needs to deduct $10 million from its last best offer to hire a firm that will bring in replacements for the nurses in case a strike happens next week.
“We must have a plan in place. We’re the state’s biggest hospital, we’re the only level one trauma center in the state. We can’t let patient care fall by the wayside, and so we have to be prepared,” she said.
O’Reilly said there’s no other choice, as the hospital does not have a budget set aside for strike preparations.
“That $10 million once it’s paid, it’s paid… The contract labor organization is incurring costs in order to put all of those pieces in place on our behalf,” she said.
In addition, O’Reilly said, the nurses can’t come back to work for an additional day as the contract labor employees that would work during the strike need to be contracted for a minimum of four days.
UNAP President Frank Sims released a statement on the reduction, reiterating that they rejected the initial deal because “it fails to address the systemic problems of wage competitiveness that lead to high staff turnover and a lack of critical support and resources for frontline caregivers.”
