Skilled maintenance workers employed by MedSpace Services plan to strike July 2 at six Illinois hospitals owned by Ontario, Calif.-based Prime Healthcare.
Four things to know:
1. The workers, represented by the International Union of Operating Engineers, voted in May to authorize the strike and gave a 10-day notice June 19, according to a June 23 union news release posted on its Facebook page.
2. The strike notice includes 53 employees at six hospitals that Prime purchased from St. Louis-based Ascension in March 2025: Saint Mary of Nazareth Hospital in Chicago, Saint Elizabeth Hospital in Chicago, Resurrection Medical Center in Chicago, Holy Family Medical Center in Des Plaines, Saint Francis Hospital in Evanston and Saint Joseph Hospital in Elgin, the release said.
3. The workers claimed in the release that Prime and MedSpace Services have “engaged in a pattern of illegal interference with workers’ rights to organize and bargain collectively.”
4. In a statement shared with Becker’s on June 23, a MedSpace Services spokesperson said the company has respected the rights of its workers to engage in lawful, protected union activity, including the right to organize.
“MedSpace has bargained in good faith during all our negotiations with IUOE 399 and will continue to do so, with respect for our employees and in support of our shared future,” the spokesperson said. “The hospitals have comprehensive plans in place to ensure operations continue without interruption, and we do not anticipate any impact to patient care.”
IUOE Local 399 represents nearly 11,000 skilled maintenance employees who are responsible for the maintenance and repair of building operating systems at sites such as hospitals, hotels, commercial office buildings and schools.
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