UNAP Members Vote Down Lifespan Contract Offer at RI Hospital -- Will Issue 10 Day Strike Notice

UNAP Members Vote Down Lifespan Contract Offer at RI Hospital -- Will Issue 10 Day Strike Notice

Members of the United Nurses and Allied Professionals (UNAP) Local 5098 have voted to reject a new three-year contract offer from Lifespan and will issue a ten-day strike notice in the coming days, according to the union. 

UNAP represents more than 2,400 nurses, therapists, technologists and other allied health professionals at Rhode Island and Hasbro Children's Hospitals.

“Our members serve at the frontlines of medicine and deserve a contract that respects the sacrifices and commitment they bring to their jobs everyday. Today, dedicated and frustrated nurses, technologists, therapists and health workers rejected a deal that devalues the critical role they play in providing world-class healthcare at Rhode Island’s only Level I trauma hospital,” said Frank Sims, RN, president of UNAP Local 5098. 

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Sims said he is calling on Lifespan to immediately return to the bargaining table and continue negotiating with the union over the coming days so that a fair and equitable deal may be reached ahead of a potential strike. UNAP members have been working under the terms of a contract that expired on June 30th. 

“Lifespan's short-sighted and punitive policies on everything from safe staffing to sick time have a direct correlation to the remarkably high turnover rate we experience at Rhode Island Hospital. Health professionals are leaving at unprecedented rates because Lifespan fails to give caregivers the tools we need to do our jobs and offers a compensation and benefit package that is not fair to all healthcare workers,” said Sims.