ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — Rochester Hospital leadership is responding to the vote Wednesday night by the nurse’s union to strike.

Rochester Union of Nurses and Allied Professionals (RUNAP) indicated 91% of its membership voted in favor of a strike later this month.

Wednesday’s vote authorizes a limited duration strike for five days.  

“There’s never a time when a nurse in the ICU should have more than two patients, and a lot of the times, they should just be one-to-one,” said Phoebe Sheehan, a registered nurse at RGH. “A lot of the times we are seeing inappropriately paired patients with nurses or three patients to one nurse and it definitely becomes a situation that’s way too stressful and honestly dangerous.”

The hospital issued a statement Thursday reading in part:

We are extremely disappointed that RUNAP has decided to conduct a second strike authorization vote and are planning to strike again, particularly given the movement Rochester General Hospital (RGH) has made at the bargaining table to address concerns the union has raised related to wages, staffing, benefits and other topics still open for negotiations.

The hospital claims the two-day strike in August cost more than $6 million for replacement staffing and other needs.

The union must give a 10-day notice from the authorization vote before they begin striking and both parties have confirmed the strike is set to begin on October 23.

Another bargaining session is scheduled next week.