| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 17, 2001 |
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Nurses Keep Faith For Quality Patient Care Unity Partnership Prayer Service Monday, August 20, 2001 7:45-8:45 p.m. at the Queeny Park Pavilion 550 Weidman Rd. Ballwin, Mo. Sisters of Mercy Health System is breaking faith with registered nurses (RNs). Twenty-one months of negotiations have failed to yield a fair contract for the 1,500 RNs working at St. John's Medical Center. Community members, religious leaders and political representatives will offer prayers with the RNs for an equitable contract that will build a partnership for quality care at St. John's Mercy Medical Center. The prayer service will feature the St. Alphonsus Rock Church Choir. Speakers:
The RNs sought representation with the UFCW because of their concerns for patient care after the hospital instituted a new program that, according to the nurses, began stressing profit more than care. The nurses remain concerned that the hospital continues to pay more attention to the bottom line than to quality patient care. When St. John's RNs voted to join UFCW Local 655's Professional Division on July 17, 1999, they became the first union hospital in St. Louis and the first registered nurse unit in Missouri. The UFCW represents 1.4 million workers, including more than 100,000 health care workers. United Food and Commercial Workers Union: A Voice for Working America- www.ufcw.org |
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