As Northwestern Memorial Hospital faces a dangerous staff crisis and the healthcare giant stonewalls workers at the contract bargaining table, hospital workers with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Healthcare Illinois held a press conference last Friday to demand the healthcare giant address the crisis by creating a pathway to a $25/hr minimum wage for all hospital workers.  “I’m here today to call on Northwestern Medicine to be a better corporate citizen, meet its frontline workers at the bargaining table, and commit to creating a pathway to $25/hour minimum wage to help solve its staffing crisis,” said Rep. Lakesia Collins. 

“I am here to call on Northwestern Memorial Hospital to be a leader and pay these frontline workers a living wage,” said Desmon Yancy, Aldermanic candidate for Chicago’s 5th Ward. “I stand with you as a candidate for the 5th Ward, I stand with you as a citizen of Chicago, and I stand with you as a worker who fights for workers.” Carrying larger-than-life “broken equipment” tag to signify that short staffing is just as dangerous as faulty hospital equipment and carrying signs declaring, “Protect Us, Pay Us, Staff Us,” Northwestern Memorial Hospital workers shared personal stories about how short staffing and high turnover rates increase worker burnout and endanger patient safety. 

“We are so understaffed, I’m not just expected to do my job. I’m expected to do the work of two or three other workers as well,” said Ebony Buckley, a Northwestern Memorial Hospital Environmental Services (EVS) Worker and SEIU Healthcare Illinois member. “When every shift is understaffed, the work just doesn’t get done and patients have to wait longer to receive care. And when they do, it’s not the quality care we’d like to provide.”

Since January 2022, 29.1 percent of Northwestern Hospital workers have quit – a higher turnover rate than the national average. Northwestern Memorial Hospital is a nationally ranked medical center boasting $12.5B in assets, yet its starting wages are lower than starting wages at Mt. Sinai, a safety net hospital with far fewer resources.

Photo Credit: SEIU Healthcare Illinois