Hundreds of nurses at University of Illinois Hospital & Clinics walked off the job Monday morning, beginning a strike at one of the closest hospitals to this week’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

The nurses, who are represented by the Illinois Nurses Association, say they want pay that’s on-par with other area hospitals, better staffing and more security at the health system, citing examples of nurses who’ve been attacked by patients. The nurses’ four-year contract expired Monday.

More than 650 nurses had shown up to picket outside University of Illinois Hospital, as of Monday morning, according to the union.

UI Health said in a statement Saturday that, “Should a work stoppage occur, we are prepared to continue safe patient care and ongoing operations” and that, “We value and respect the critical role our nurses and other healthcare professionals play in fulfilling the system’s mission to provide vital care for our community.”

A UI Health spokeswoman did not immediately answer questions Monday morning about specific steps the hospital has taken to continue providing care during the strike. The last time the nurses went on strike in 2020 the hospital brought in temporary nurses, asked ambulances to take new patients elsewhere, didn’t take patient transfers from other hospitals and canceled elective procedures.

The planned, weeklong strike begins at the same time as the Democratic National Convention in Chicago – an event that has local law enforcement and area hospitals on high alert. University of Illinois Hospital is one of the closest hospitals to the United Center, which is where many convention events are taking place. It’s just a little more than a mile away.

The hospital has been preparing for the convention for months.

In recent weeks, after the nurses voted to authorize a strike, the University of Illinois Board of Trustees went to Cook County Circuit Court to seek a temporary restraining order to stop some of the nurses from striking, saying the absence could present “a clear and present danger to the health or safety of the public.”

In their complaint, the trustees said because of the convention, it could be especially difficult to find replacement nurses for the week. The staffing agency used by the hospital told the hospital that “many Staffing Agency nurses are not willing to travel to Chicago, Illinois during the DNC for safety reasons, and the Staffing Agency is having a difficult time finding lodging for the traveling nurses due to all area hotels being booked for the DNC,” according to the complaint.

Also, other area hospitals might have trouble accepting UI Health’s patients this week because they might be more busy than usual because of the convention, according to the complaint. Patient transfers could also be difficult because of traffic congestion due to the convention, according to the complaint.

Following those arguments and others, the judge issued a temporary restraining order Friday barring 91 nurses per shift – including those who work in intensive care units and the emergency department – from going on strike in order to “avoid or remove any clear and present danger to the health or safety of the public.” The judge, however, said that with the exception of those nurses, other nurses would be allowed to walk off the job.

Though University of Illinois Hospital is one of the closest hospitals to the United Center, it is not a Level I trauma center. That means that if there were many patients who sustained traumatic injuries at the convention, ambulances would likely first take those patients to Stroger Hospital, Northwestern Memorial Hospital and Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, which are Level I trauma centers.

Ambulances might, however, want to take patients who don’t have traumatic injuries to University of Illinois Hospital, and it’s also possible that if there were many people injured at the convention center, that some of those people would want to head on their own to the nearest hospitals, which include University of Illinois Hospital.

In all, more than 1,300 nurses voted to authorize the strike earlier this month. The nurses say it was a coincidence that their strike is occurring during the DNC, and they didn’t know, years ago, when they agreed to their last contract that it would expire the same day that the DNC started. On Monday, the nurses wore white and blue shirts and carried signs that said, “Protect our nurses!” and, “The Community We Serve Deserves Safe Patient Limits!”

Among other things, the nurses are asking for more security staff and more of a voice on a workplace safety committee.

Mona Baig, a nurse in the hospital’s psychiatric unit who picketed Monday, said a patient stabbed her with a pen in the shoulder a couple years ago, and she had to have her rotator cuff repaired. She said management downplays nurses’ safety concerns.

She also said it’s upsetting that the hospital is now spending money on temporary agency nurses, when it could be putting that money toward raises for its staff nurses. The nurses have proposed average annual raises of 10% over a three-year-long contract, while the hospital is proposing average annual raises of 1.8% over a four-year-long contract, according to the union.

“It’s really frustrating, really disrespectful,” said Baig, who’s worked for the hospital for seven years and is a union steward.

Mackenzie Morgan, who is also a nurse in the hospital’s psychiatric unit and a union steward, said nurses don’t feel that management is listening to them, especially when it comes to safety. Morgan hadn’t slept before picketing Monday morning, saying he’d worked until 11:30 p.m. the night before and then went to help set up the picket at 5:30 a.m.

“We’re on the front lines, we’re getting injured, and where are you? You’re behind a desk and coming up with these concepts, and if we have a criticism, you have nothing to say to it,” Morgan said of management.

The nurses plan to strike through Sunday.

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