Still at it! On Friday afternoon a few dozen St. Joseph Hospital employees and their supporters could again be found clustered on Harrison Street in front of the hospital’s main campus in Eureka. More signs! More slogans! More honks!

This is now the third day of National Union of Hospital Workers (NUHW) demonstrations aimed at shaming the hospital into promising better working conditions and increased staffing levels. (See LoCO’s previous coverage here.) 

Many of the workers on the sidewalk Friday were part of a group told not to come back to work until Monday. The union’s Wednesday strike was scheduled to last 24 hours, but St. Joseph contracted with an agency to provide replacement workers to fill-in. According to the hospital the agency required a five-day minimum contractual commitment to provide workers. 

In response, supporters of locked out NUHW members have set up a GoFundMe account to raise funds aimed at offsetting the the burden of lost wages. You can view the campaign here.