Northside nurse strike/lockout are over, but no contract talks scheduled

September 26, 2013 at 8:57p.m.

Northside nurse strike/lockout are over

YOUNGSTOWN

The lock-out of registered nurses from ValleyCare Northside Medical Center, the aftermath of a one-day nurses strike Tuesday, is winding down — but nothing is settled.

The vast majority of the 485 nurses, represented by the Youngstown General Duty Nurses Association, are back on their regularly scheduled shifts today and more will return to their jobs over the weekend and on Monday, said Joyce Shaffer, YGDNA first vice president.

The 72-hour commitment the hospital said it had made to the replacement nurses ended Thursday night or Friday morning, union officials believe.

The 72-hour engagements of the temporary workers will soon be concluding, said Trish Hrina, ValleyCare’s vice president of marketing and public relations.

“As our nursing team members are returning to their scheduled, assigned duties, we’re pleased that all of these transitions have been smooth, taking place without interruption to quality patient care,” she said.

With regard to union leadership monitoring at the hospital, the expired YGDNA/Ohio Nurses Association contract includes a process permitting union visitation on one day each week for monitoring purposes. Although the ONA contract has expired, the hospital has nevertheless have designated this Saturday as the most convenient day this week so as to minimize any disruption to operations, Hrina said.

While the strike did not result in the resumption of contract talks, Eric Williams, YGDNA president, said it did help get the nurses’ issues before the public.