By CHICAGO — Cook County is cutting 138 nursing jobs at two hospitals in a process that began Monday. Nurses union leader Leslie Curtis says nurses are calling it the "Valentine's Day massacre."
Cook County Health and Hospitals System spokesman Lucio Guerrero says the jobs are being eliminated at Oak Forest Hospital in the south suburbs and Provident Hospital on the city's South Side.
Nurses who get notices have the opportunity to apply for vacant positions in the health system or bump others with less seniority at the hospital where they work.
Guerrero says many of the nurses may be qualified to fill 132 vacancies in the health system.
The county plans to cut the Provident nursing staff to 63 positions and the Oak Forest nursing staff to 23 positions.
