The Ohio Nurses Association has submitted a 10-day strike notice to the Salem Regional Medical Center on behalf of the Registered Nurses in their union. 

All 116 Registered Nurses at the hospital are prepared to strike once that notice expires if they don’t come to an agreement on a new contract. 

“This is not something we want to do, it's not something we're looking forward to but change has to begin somewhere,” Sara Harkleroad, the president of the Salem Registered Nurses Association said. 

They’re asking for better pay, saying their wages haven’t kept up with inflation. 

They also want the hospital to hire more nurses to lessen the workload. Harkleroad said sometimes RNs have to take care of up to 10 patients at a time. They want enough nurses so that they each care for a maximum of four.

“We need to have those protections and to have a set ratio of patients that we can safely take care of at one time,” Harkleroad said.

Harkleroad said covid took a toll on the RNs and some still haven’t recovered emotionally from it.

“It further made working in a hospital more difficult because so many nurses are choosing to leave the field,” Harkleroad said.

She feels the two requests go hand in hand - if wages are more competitive than more nurses would apply to the hospital.

Salem Regional Medical Center released a statement about the strike notice:

“Salem Regional Medical Center is one of the few independent hospitals that is still not-for-profit, which means that generating a profit is not our motive. Our top priority is taking care of our patients and providing a safety net of healthcare services for our community.

We are continuing good faith negotiations with the nurses’ bargaining unit and our goal is to achieve a mutually agreeable contract renewal, as we have in past years. SRMC greatly appreciates the care and dedication provided by every member of our staff.”

Harkleroad and the nurses in the union hope a new contract will set a standard. 

“We really just want to make this change that would start here but also spread throughout the state and throughout the country,” she said. 

All of the RNs are reporting for their regular scheduled shifts during the strike notice. The next negotiation between the hospital and the union will be on Tuesday, April 16. If a new contract is presented to the union representatives, all members must vote on it. To pass the contract they must have at least 77 members vote ‘yes.’

If no agreement is reached by Monday, April 22 Harkleroad said the RNs will officially start a strike. 

The last contract negotiations the union had with the hospital was in 2021. Harkleroad said soon after that contract was signed nurses wanted to go back to the bargaining table but decided to wait until it officially expired. The current contract the RNs are under expires on April, 20.