Hospital Employees Protest Layoff Notices

Cook County hospital workers and members of the Service Employees International Union Local 73 on Thursday held dual protests outside John H. Stroger Hospital.

The demonstration were a public display against what they say are illegal layoff notices to hundreds of employees. The layoffs would essentially shut down inpatient services at Oak Forest Hospital, they said.

"We're fighting these cuts that would impact the southland area and it would also impact the healthcare that they're going to receive," said Betty Boles, the vice-president of SEIU Local 73.

Union workers are also upset about the county's proposal of five furlough days and five shutdown days.

The employees have been working without a new contract since 2008 and have voted to authorize a strike."

Source: http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/stroger-hospital-protests-121360949.html#ixzz1LXDe0JMV

Hi gigichicago,

I did see an article on this . . . I work close enough to Cook County Hospital that their workers probably eat lunch at the same places I do. . . . Well, you know, layoffs (as in multiple) have already taken place these last two years at MacNeal, Westlake, Elmhurst Memorial . . . and I don't even know many others : - (

WW

Hi, ww,

I am really astonished to read about hospitals reducing staff. Not long ago, there were many articles and advertisements from schools about the shortage of nurses. It looks like it was big lie. I too was considering a nursing career and I'm glad I did not pursue it. I would have wasted a lot of money on a career that would have left me unemployed and with a big student loan.

Hi gigichicago,

We have been cresting upon a healthcare bubble that initially arose out of the legitimate reason of the US's now spiking in the proportion of its over-65 age demographic . . . But for all the "nursing shortage" buzz and hype, even though there remains certain subspecialties within the field of nursing that have not topped out YET, it is worth mentioning that several nurses since 2008 have told me that their facilities have and/or are in nurse-lay-off-mode. . .

Yet, because it is the "nature of the beast" that, one way or another, organizations like to keep wages low (unless one is an O-suite executive or a doctor or some such), so too are health-systems still recruiting nurse-aspirants from overseas - as though we were not, in fact, nearing saturation-point. Moreover, and we are putting new RNs out from schools across the country . . . at the speed akin to that of puppy-farm owners who force purebred bitches to continually bear new litters.

FYI, Even though "registered nurses" were not considered by the Bureau of Labor Statistics to be one of the top-30 occupations (in terms of predicted- growth-in-labor-market-demand over the next seven years), nevertheless, about half of those occupations predicted by the BLS to grow most in the near future are in fact direct-service-provider healthcare-oriented positions (e.g., Physical Therapists). Furthermore, more that half of the top 30 occupations fall within the healthcare industry, all told, if we include such non service-provider healthcare-related positions as "biomedical engineer."

WW