Those that are aware of Catholic theology can have heard of the “seven lethal sins” enumerated by Pope Gregory I — satisfaction, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony and sloth, all dire ethical failings which might be thought to result in additional transgressions. Because the Bible says, “You can not serve each God and cash” (Matthew 6:24). It’s ironic, then, that the extremely paid executives operating the Ascension Catholic hospital community have so completely embraced the sin of greed.
In 2021, Ascension — which runs 139 hospitals in 19 different states — reported web earnings of greater than $6.4 billion and $19.5 billion in money reserves. As a nonprofit hospital chain, it’s not required to pay federal taxes. Ascension executives additionally run an funding firm on the facet that manages greater than $41 billion, and a non-public fairness agency price $1 billion. Regardless of the corporate’s wealth, Ascension has constantly chosen to shut hospitals serving low-income neighborhoods and relocate its amenities to wealthier neighborhoods (a lot for “blessed are you who’re poor”), in keeping with a 2022 investigation by The Wall Avenue Journal.
Hospital administration has additionally lengthy refused to take a position its appreciable monetary sources again into its workforce, which has led to power understaffing. Two-thousand registered nurses at three Ascension amenities in Austin, Texas, and Wichita, Kansas, went on a historic one-day strike this week to vary that.
They already made historical past final yr, when 900 nurses on the Ascension Seton Medical Heart in Austin voted to affix the Nationwide Nurses Organizing Committee/Nationwide Nurses United (NNOC/NNU), thereby creating the biggest private-sector nursing union within the state. It was a large accomplishment in a so-called “right-to-work” state ruled by anti-labor politicians.
Two months later, 650 nurses in Kansas adopted their lead, becoming a member of the NNOC/NNU to kind Wichita’s first union at a private-sector hospital, which occurs to be the biggest hospital within the metropolis. Three-hundred extra at Wichita’s Christi St. Joseph Hospital voted to affix the union in March 2023.
All three items have been locked in contract negotiations with Ascension for months and have had a tough time getting the hospital to acknowledge their considerations. Safe staffing levels have been a key bone of competition between the union and Ascension administration. Fewer nurses on employees means a heavier workload for staff in addition to a decreased high quality of look after sufferers. Hospitals that slash staffing budgets get monetary savings however inflict bodily and emotional misery on workers. Nurses across the nation have been vocal about this subject since even earlier than the COVID-19 pandemic hit and exacerbated the scenario, and it’s solely gotten worse. The June 27 strike got here after Ascension administration repeatedly dismissed nurses’ considerations over staffing and retention.
“Ascension administration pushed nurses to this place by failing to hearken to or implement our options to handle the staffing disaster,” said Monica Gonzalez, a registered nurse within the neurology unit at Ascension Seton Medical Heart. “Ascension administration has the facility to settle a robust contract now, if they’re severe about staffing up and bettering nurses’ capability to supply protected affected person care.”
Administration didn’t react effectively to the strike. Information broke later that day that Ascension plans to lock out the striking nurses for a further three days. The strike didn’t come as a shock to administration. The truth is, when nurses go on strike, they at all times present their hospitals with no less than 10 days discover in order that various preparations will be made for affected person care. After every of the three areas voted overwhelmingly to authorize the strike, they delivered their strike notices to Ascension’s St. Louis, Missouri, headquarters earlier this month. The NNOC/NNU nurses are wanting to get again to their sufferers, so the proposed lockout appears to be a purely punitive measure.
“Nurses are energized and united after yesterday’s strike,” stated Sara Wilson, a registered nurse at Ascension By way of Christi St. Francis in Wichita, in an interview with Truthout. “On the similar time, we’re annoyed with this nonprofit group who’s prepared to lock out their very own nurses — the employees [who] has been caring for the neighborhood for years and needs to look after our sufferers at the moment,” she added. “We’re hoping that Ascension can come to the desk and really supply us some first rate counters on the proposals they’ve had for months.”
Nurses are hopeful that bargaining classes with Ascension scheduled through the end of August will yield outcomes.
“The strike was so empowering,” stated Vanessa Villarreal, a registered nurse at Ascension Seton Medical Heart in Austin. “I’m wanting ahead to successful a robust first contract in order that I can depart work with out feeling like I received dragged via the ringer and to encourage different nurses to face up towards the hospital business.”
