The nurses’ union at Mercy Health – Allen Hospital in Oberlin is currently in negotiation with the hospital company to secure fair benefits, wages, and hiring practices. On Monday, 94 percent of the Mercy nurses voted to reject the company’s initial proposal. 

 Derek Chaffins, a Mercy nurse and bargaining team member who has been a part of the nurses’ union for about 12 years, spoke to the current short-staffing that has put severe stress on the staff. He explained that some are changing their schedules at a detriment to their personal lives to prevent the hospital from being understaffed, and said that this short-staffing has occurred as a result of the hospital’s inability to recruit new nurses due to sub-market hiring conditions. 

“We have day shifts working night shifts just to fill in holes,” Chaffins said. “We’re all sacrificing from our own families because we’re a very close-knit family — all the nurses are — and we don’t want to see some nurses working understaffed. We’re trying to fill in as much as we can, but we’re at a breaking point right now. We can’t keep doing this role that we’re doing.”

Additionally, the nurses at Mercy do not receive any allocation of time off in case of sickness. In a poll taken among the nurses by the union, 75 percent of nurses reported that staffing shortages were significantly contributing to burnout and health issues. Ninety percent of union nurses reported they’ve had to come to work sick due to fear of using up all their vacation time or fear of being fired for calling in sick too many times. 

“We don’t want to be put in a situation anymore where we call off work because we’re sick, and then we won’t be able to take my family on a vacation because I used all my vacation time when I got sick taking care of patients,” said Chaffins. “It’s to protect the patients as well — we don’t want to get them sick, and we want to be able to give our patients 100 percent. They’re sometimes in their darkest times: they’re sick, they feel terrible, they deserve 100 percent of our nurses giving them the best possible care that’s possible.” 

Taken together, inadequate working conditions and benefits put Mercy at a “below market” hiring position, making it difficult to keep experienced nurses and recruit new nurses to avoid and ameliorate staffing shortages. The local union evaluated these conditions before coming to the bargaining table. 

Michelle Day, a representative of the Ohio Nurses Association, the greater Ohio union of nurses and hospital staff, said that staffing shortages existed before, but were exacerbated by COVID-19. 

“[The staffing shortages] were beginning before Covid, but [during Covid], you had nurses that were like, ‘I can’t do this anymore,’ and they were out, and, unfortunately, we had tons of people pass away,” Day said. “Now, ever since the pandemic, we have tons of people that have retired due to age, and that has also left a gap.” 

Chaffins also cited the effect of COVID-19 on healthcare professionals as a primary tension at the bargaining table now. 

“[During Covid,] the hospitals were throwing up ‘heroes work here’,” Chaffins said.“We were kind of like a walking billboard for them, and now that Covid’s over, probably not just as a nurse at Mercy but nationwide, we’re saying ‘where’s that hero feeling anymore?’ The executives and the CEOs are making all this money, and we’re not such heroes to them anymore, we’re just employees.” 

Managers at Mercy have been completely absent from negotiations, which Day and Chaffins agreed was exceptional. Usually, local managers at the hospital would join executives on the company side. This time, Chaffins said, only corporate representatives attended. 

Rob Watchorn, president of the local nurses’ union and an emergency room nurse at the hospital, also noted this discrepancy in a press release distributed by ONA following the 94 percent rejection of the original tentative agreement. 

“No local hospital leaders who know us, our patients, or our community were at the table,” Watchorn said during his March 10 statement. “Nurses care for sick people every day, but the hospital doesn’t allow us to be sick. When we are sick, we’re blamed, threatened with discipline, and struggling to afford our own healthcare. Who will care for this community when we’re sick and falling apart? Certainly not our non-clinical millionaire executives. We just can’t do it anymore — we need help, support, and resources.” 

Another bargaining meeting will be held March 25 to attempt to draft a new tentative agreement, which will then be put to a vote by the Mercy nurses. Additional time may be added to reach an agreement. Chaffins and Day declined to comment on possibilities if an agreement is not reached, but thanked the Oberlin community and Oberlin College students for their support. 

“We are doing fine, we’re sticking together, and it’s not because we’re looking for luxury vacations or anything,” Chaffins said. “These are just basic things we’re asking for to get up to market and retain the experienced nurses that we have. That’s kind of the business we’re in.” 

“We love and value our nurses and are continuing with good faith negotiations toward a fair and comprehensive agreement,” Kara Franz, PR and communications manager at Bon Secours Mercy Health wrote in an email to the Review. “We hope to reach [an] agreement shortly so that our nurses can continue to focus on delivering care at the bedside for our patients.”