Closing Our Lady Of Angels Is Retaliatory, IL Nurses Association Says

JOLIET, IL — The executive director of the Illinois Nurses Association has issued a statement accusing the Catholic nuns who oversee Joliet's Our Lady of Angels of trying to close the nursing home care facility as a direct form of retaliation.

Back in August, the employees at Our Lady of Angels voted to unionize, according to Julia Bartmes, executive director of INA. Last week, the administration for Our Lady of Angels issued a statement confirming it is considering closing Our Lady of Angels. No date has been announced as far as a permanent closure.

"OLA’s indication that they are planning to close the facility without discussing it with their newly unionized staff, local elected officials, the Health Facilities and Services Review Board, or the Joliet community at large is an abdication of their duty to their patients, workers, and community," Bartmes remarked in her press release. "The Franciscan nuns and this facility have a responsibility to the Joliet community and should be providing the local community a chance to save this place."

There are about 70 Joliet nurses who are now part of the new union at Our Lady of Angels retirement home, according to the Illinois Nurses Association.

Early last week, Sister Jeanne Bessette, president, Sisters of St. Francis of Mary Immaculate, chair of the Board for Our Lady of Angels Retirement Home, said "we are meeting with the Illinois Nurses Association on Thursday to discuss the issue. Should we decide to close this 60-year-old long-term care facility, we will not do so until well after January 1, 2023, so that we can do our best to ensure a smooth transition for our residents, their families and our staff."

From the perspective of the Illinois Nurses Association, "absent any discussion of financial limitations, and given the timing of the announcement shortly following the workers winning their union election, we believe this closure to be retaliatory rather than financially necessary," Bartmes said. "We are deeply troubled that a care facility would endanger its patients, leave its workers without jobs, and its community with less care resources to avoid bargaining with the union."

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