By ASN News Editorial Desk
NEWS FLASH
CHICAGO (CHICAGO URBAN DAILY)— Chicago’s biggest public hospital system is on strike notice. About 200 advanced practice providers at UI Health could walk off the job as soon as November 11.
SEIU Local 73, which represents the nurse practitioners, physician assistants and midwives, issued a 10-day notice of intent to strike on October 31, after members voted in October to authorize a walkout. The notice does not mean a strike will happen — but the clock is now running.
At the center of the dispute is a 2 percent raise. That increase took effect in August for other campus workers, but the providers say they never got it — and that they have gone more than two years without a raise or a cost-of-living adjustment. The union has filed an unfair labor practice charge over the withheld raise, and is also pushing for changes on pay transparency, staffing, meal breaks and sick time.
The fight is tangled up in court. The state labor board certified the providers’ union in July 2025, and the university is challenging that certification. The Illinois Appellate Court has temporarily paused the university’s obligation to bargain — and UI Health says it considers a strike unlawful while that order stands. The hospital says it has contingency plans to keep the University of Illinois Hospital and clinics running if providers walk out.
Neither side has said how long a strike would last, or whether the two sides will try mediation before November 11.
Stay tuned to Chicago Urban Daily as the deadline approaches — and for what it means for patients across the West Side.
Reported by Chicago Urban Daily News. Visit chicagourbandailynews.com for updates.
