From WisPolitics.com/WisBusiness.com …
— UnityPoint Health – Meriter and labor union SEIU’s health care division have agreed to a two-year contract for nurses following months of negotiations.
The hospital yesterday announced its nurses have voted to ratify the agreement, saying it is “now final and further illustrates the value Meriter places on its nurses.” Sherry Casali, the hospital’s chief nursing executive, says “we are extremely pleased” to reach a contract.
“Nurses are critical to what we do each day, and we believe that this contract recognizes their skill, commitment and passion,” she said in a statement.
The finalized contract comes after an initial tentative agreement was announced on Saturday, which followed multiple days of nurses striking as both organizations were bargaining. As that process was ongoing, the hospital said at one point SEIU Wisconsin had been blocking a dock entrance and creating delays for a supply loading dock.
UnityPoint Health says it includes competitive wage increases “on top of what is already one of the highest paid nurse workforces” in the state. The hospital says it will help retain long-term staff and recruit new nurses.
SEIU did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
See the hospital’s statement here.
— Milwaukee Health Commissioner Michael Totoraitis says there is absolutely no federal team on the ground from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention to assist with the school’s lead crisis, as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently claimed in testimony before Congress.
“No one could speak to any of this mythical team that doesn’t exist,” Totoraitis told WISN 12’s “UpFront,” which is produced in partnership with WisPolitics. “We have been kind of in the dark as to any communication from the CDC. The last formal communication we received from the CDC was back in April, so I’m at a loss for what the secretary is referring to.”
Milwaukee Public Schools has been forced to close several schools to deal with a deepening lead crisis within the district, and beyond RFK Jr.’s comments, the city’s formal request for federal assistance was recently denied.
“That was, from what I understand, the first time in 75 years the CDC has denied an epi aid request,” Totoraitis said. “And it wasn’t to help clean up the mess. It was help to actually investigate the epidemiologic investigations, so essentially the detective work to help discern whether or not a child had been poisoned at their home, at the school or some combination of both.”
U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Oshkosh, said last week the city and district should fix the problem on its own without any federal assistance.
“Is there really some secret expertise the CDC has inside the federal government? I doubt it,” Johnson said. “Just clean it up.”
“I appreciate Sen. Johnson raising the issue and attention to this really important moment in our city’s history,” Totoraitis responded. “I think the part he fails to realize is the support and the technical assistance had been ongoing for months where the CDC helped us validate our site investigations, our physical assessment of the schools, they were helping us with medical toxicology expertise, tangible expertise that we don’t have internally within our health department.”
Totoraitis said the city will continue working throughout the summer on a list of target schools.
“As Secretary Kennedy continues to talk about this issue in the national media, he says the right thing,” Totoraitis said. “So I will continue to hold out hope that they will show up and be present here in Milwaukee.”
See more from the show.
— A new abortion provider in Milwaukee, Care for All Community Clinic, has begun accepting appointments ahead of its planned June 10 opening.
The clinic recently posted an online flyer advertising its services, including medication abortion and procedural abortion, calling itself the state’s only independent nonprofit abortion clinic. It’s also offering contraceptice prescriptions and related procedures, and help connecting with transportation and lodging providers.
It currently offers procedural abortion up to 14 weeks, and plans to expand that timeframe to 21 weeks and six days, the flyer shows.
The anti-abortion group Pro-Life Wisconsin in April published a “red alert” blog post about the clinic’s plans to open in Milwaukee, with details about its plans for paying workers and its leadership. The group’s director, Dan Miller, noted in a separate post the 53208 ZIP code where it’s located is one of the poorest areas in Milwaukee.
“Please pray that their business plan fails,” he wrote.
Meanwhile, the clinic is touting its “supportive, small and local team” as well as promising a “warm handoff” for pregnancy continuation and family care.
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