'Everybody's pretty fired up': Akron General, union negotiate after contract expiration

Cleveland Clinic Akron General nurses are still working despite their union contract expiring at midnight Friday, said Michelle Day, director of communications and technology at Ohio Nurses Association.

Negotiations between the hospital and the union — the Professional Staff Nurses Association, Ohio Nurses Association of Akron General Cleveland Clinic (PSNA) — continued on Friday following expiration of the union’s three-year contract.

A deal had not been reached as Friday afternoon.

"Our biggest fight here is patient safety and staffing ratios," Linzi Lentz, intensive care nurse and co-chair of PSNA, said Thursday. "Everybody's pretty fired up about the hospital not wanting to really budge on at least guaranteeing that they're going to make efforts towards patient safety."

Union nurses want a limit on the number of patients they can care for at one time, the Beacon Journal previously reported.

More:Akron General nurses union authorizes negotiating team to issue strike notice

In an update Monday on its website, the union stated members will continue working without a contract and will not be extending the contract, as it would take away their ability to picket and strike if necessary. 

Lentz said Thursday that the union was "really hoping to make some progress" during Friday negotiations with hospital representatives.

If a contract agreement is not reached, Lentz said, the union planned to have an informational meeting and make signs at their labor hall this Saturday, then host an informational picket from 7 a.m. Wednesday to 6 p.m. Thursday.

The union voted Feb. 15 to enable the negotiating team to issue a strike notice. No strikes have happened yet.

For a strike to occur, the union would have to hold another vote on issuing a 10-day strike notice, Lentz said, adding, "We could potentially issue a notice."

In its Monday update, the union stated: “We are doing everything we can to prevent a strike in the interest of our patients and community, but the hospital does not seem to be serious about getting a contract. We are sending out a survey to see where the members are on many of these topics so we can make a decision based on what the members want.”

A Cleveland Clinic spokesperson did not respond to the Beacon Journal's question Thursday about whether the hospital system will continue to provide services in the event of a strike. The spokesperson emailed the same statement that the Beacon Journal published in a story last week, saying negotiations are being conducted in "good faith" and citing appreciation for the union nurses and the rest of the system's caregivers.

"Our goal is to achieve a mutually agreeable contract renewal, as we have in past years," the spokesperson said.

PSNA represents more than 800 nurses at the hospital.