Mission Hospital nurses in Asheville have voted to authorize their bargaining team to strike.
Ninety-seven percent of the votes supported the strike authorization at the HCA-owned Mission Hospital. The move, announced on Labor Day, is the latest hurdle in the contract negotiations that began in April. The current contract ended on July 30.
An HCA spokesperson said, if there's a strike, the hospital will remain open and serving patients.
In a statement Monday, the union said Mission's owner, HCA, "refused to address numerous patient safety issues."
“As patient advocates, it is our duty to stand up for our patients and make it clear to HCA that sacrificing patient care for profit is immoral and will not be tolerated," said Elle Kruta, a registered nurse at Mission Hospital, in a statement from the union.
The vote does not start a strike. Rather it authorizes nurses at the bargaining table on behalf of the union to call for a strike. The next bargaining meeting is scheduled for Monday, September 9.
If union nurses elect to strike, they would provide a 10-day notice to HCA, one of the nation's largest health care systems.
An HCA spokesperson said the move is no surprise.
"It was fully expected that the union would claim overwhelming support for a strike as this is a common bargaining tactic, especially from this union," HCA spokesperson Nancy Lindell said in a statement. "The union has seemed intent on striking long before bargaining began."
Nurses are frustrated, the union statement said, and allege hospital management has refused "to move forward on key nurse proposals regarding nurse retention and ensuring meal and rest breaks for nurses."
“I'm feeling really excited right now, because as a bargaining team member it's been pretty difficult to sit across the table and have HCA attorneys shut us down when we're trying to fight for a better and safer workplace," Kerri Wilson, a registered nurse at Mission Hospital, told BPR in an interview on Monday.
The union declined to state how many nurses cast a ballot in the authorization vote.
Latest in a series of challenges
About a month ago, nurses and their supporters picketed outside the Asheville facility, calling for the Mission health care system to meet demands about patient safety and working conditions.
The potential strike is the latest in a series of challenges for HCA in Western North Carolina since it purchased the then-nonprofit Mission Hospital System in 2019.
In late July, the independent monitor assigned to evaluate whether HCA complied with the terms of the sale reported it had found potential non-compliance in three areas.
In addition to the ongoing nurses' negotiation, HCA faces several legal challenges related to the Mission facility.
In late 2023, state Attorney General and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Josh Stein filed suit against the health care giant alleging violation of the purchase agreement. The case is pending in the state's business court.
Earlier this year, the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare issued an “immediate jeopardy” designation to the health care system after a report by CMS outlining multiple incidents of patient harm and death. The hospital took corrective action, satisfying inspectors who permitted the facility to continue to receive CMS funding.
The nurses are not alone in their calls for accountability at the hospital. In late July, a newly formed coalition of political leaders and advocates called for HCA to sell Mission to a nonprofit entity.
