We gave AHS 10 days advance notice of our strike so it could have time to schedule travelers and managers to cover our work during the strike, and to reschedule surgeries and appointments and alert other facilities in the area that we will need to be on diversion.
AHS wasted 5 of those 10 days of advance notice by doing (apparently) nothing to prepare. In the final hour, it rushed to PERB (a state agency) to try to save itself from its own mistake. It wanted PERB to believe our strike was illegal and issue an injunction to stop it. PERB was not convinced. Instead, we were able to use the PERB process to ensure that the services that we know are critically important will continue to operate during the strike. With the input of knowledgeable members working in the various units, we developed a patient care team that will receive line passes during the strike to help maintain critically important services, so that replacement workers, travelers and managers don’t mess up. That small number of employees designated to receive line passes will receive a call or email from the Union or steward on Monday, October 5, 2020.
Our strike is on! Full steam ahead. And it’s protected by law! AHS is lying when it says that this is an illegal strike. That’s simply not true.