Ascension Joliet nurses rally around fired union steward

Joliet — Members of the St. Joseph Nurses Association held a news conference and protest Tuesday in Joliet demanding the reinstatement of their local union steward after she was let go from her position as an oncology nurse at Ascension St. Joseph-Joliet.

The nurses association announced the termination of Kaitlynd French, a member of the nurses association executive board at Ascension St. Joseph-Joliet hospital, and their intention to protest it in a statement Oct. 3, calling it “a clear violation of the nurses’ newly ratified contract and protected right to representation.”

French, who said that she has two young children and a stay-at-home-father husband whom she supports, was let go earlier that morning over Zoom after seven years at the hospital.

French said that she had been placed on unpaid leave for 10 days before her firing as an investigation was ongoing, even though Ascension’s own policy states that investigations should take about three business days.

The union and French, who also is named as a plaintiff in an ongoing class-action lawsuit that the union members have brought against Ascension for alleged wage theft, said the official reason for the investigation was because she left the unit floor during her shift to attend a disciplinary meeting with another nurse as her role as a union steward.

“What I did was perfectly normal,” French said. “I’ve been a member of the [SJNA] executive board for two years, and I’ve left my unit multiple times to attend meetings. I was still in the building and had my phone on me if there was an emergency.”

The protesting union members said the termination amounted to retaliation for French’s role representing other union members and for her continued criticism of the hospital’s management.

“Retaliation against nursing staff is against the Hospital Licensing Act and is a labor violation,” French said. “I’ve been speaking out about the conditions at the hospital and the toll it’s taken on patient care, and each time I spoke out, I was disciplined within a couple weeks. At this point, I think they were looking for an excuse to dismiss me.”

Some of the issues that French said she has spoken out against include the hospital’s ongoing staffing shortages and what she said allegedly resulted in Ascension’s “on-and-off” closures of multiple units within the hospital over the past two years, including the surgical center and the pediatric unit.

The union also has alleged that French is not the first union member to be unfairly disciplined by Ascension in recent months for “discussing workplace conditions with co-workers.”

In a statement addressing the protest, Olga Solares, the hospital’s senior director of external communications, said: “Ascension St. Joseph-Joliet is dedicated to delivering safe patient care. We follow a structured progressive corrective action policy that addresses associate performance issues fairly and transparently. Decisions regarding corrective actions, including termination, are always made in the best interest of patient safety and hospital integrity. We remain committed to protecting the rights and privacy of our associates,” before reiterating the hospital’s Oct. 3 statement that “in accordance with our policies, we do not comment on individual personnel matters.”

About two dozen nurses and community members came out to the protest Tuesday afternoon in front of the hospital to demand that French be reinstated and for Ascension and the hospital’s soon-to-be new owner, Prime HealthCare – which is in the process of purchasing St. Joseph-Joliet along with eight other Illinois Ascension facilities for $375 million – to reopen the closed units and “stop union busting.”

“[French] has stuck up for every single nurse in this hospital,” SJNA executive board member Beth Corsetti said. “Now we need to be there for her. We’re gonna stand up, fight back, and not lay down and take it.”

Along with members of the Illinois Nurses Association, Joliet City Council members Suzanna Ibarra and Jan Quillman were in attendance, along with retired members of the Southland Friends of Labor Executive Board: retired state Rep. Al Riley, Will County Coroner Laurie Summers (a registered nurse), former Will County Board member and retired steel worker Mark Ferry, and Mike Schauer of Sprinkler Fitters Local 281.

“I’m so appreciative of everyone who has come out today,” French said. “It means a lot to have people be supportive and shows we really stand together, which is what it means to be a union.”

Tuesday’s action follows a year of contentious contract negotiations between the hospital and the nurses union, which included several walkouts.

The hospital declared that the negotiations had reached an impasse in January and that it would implement its “last, best and final offer” in March. The union objected to this but eventually approved a slightly modified version of the deal in May.

During and following the contract struggles, SJNA has filed more than a dozen unfair labor practice charges against Ascension with the National Labor Relations Board.

As a result of the ongoing conflicts with the hospital administration, INA union representative Alec Ramsay-Smith said the union is “cautiously optimistic” about the sale of the hospital to Prime, and encouraged union members to attend the upcoming meeting of the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board on Oct. 29 at the Bolingbrook Golf Club.

“We need a partner who can be here for a long time,” he said. “We want this sale to happen, but we can’t have the sale with the way this hospital has been running, so we want groups out in force to talk about it.”

Ramsey-Smith acknowledged that Prime HeathCare is a for-profit organization but said the union is “going to take them at their word” that they plan to invest in the hospital.

“We look forward to having a productive relationship to make this the hospital Joliet deserves,” he said.