The clock is ticking for thousands of nurses and service and technical staff at Mercy St. Vincent Medical Center. Each day that passes, is one day closer to the picket line.

"We provide awesome care but you can only stretch that rubber band so far before it breaks," said Susan Pratt, RN, president and bargaining chair for UAW Local 2213.

Pratt has been a nurse at Mercy since 1996. She says there are a lot of reasons why union membership overwhelmingly said no to the final deal, like staffing.

"We have members that have been working almost full time on-call hours and full time regular hours, so we're just physically exhausted and we need to have some relief," says Pratt.

She also points to issues with details in the proposed health care plan.

"We have budgets just like everyone else and we need to plan accordingly and they just want to change things on a whim," Pratt said.

Mercy leaders recognize that the out-of-pocket- insurance benefits are a point of contention, but say their hands are tied.

"Over the course of the contract, the initial stages, Mercy has already committed to caps. The last year is one we can't commit to," said Matt Sapara, vice president of operations and regional development at Mercy Health.

Sapara adds that the offer on the table is both fair and competitive.

"The vast majority of the proposal in that package was agreed to by the union."

But the membership isn't ready to sign off, in fact, they're preparing to strike. Pratt says they're fighting for themselves and their patients.

"We know that these are our mothers, our fathers, our neighbors in that bed," she said. "We don't want to have to strike, but we've been forced into this."

Meantime, Sapara says Mercy is also has a plan in place in the event of a strike.

"Rest assured that if that takes place next week, that we are going to continue to operate, continue to be a safety net for this community," he said.

Contract negotiations with Mercy Health have been ongoing since July 30.

On April 18, UAW members rejected the company’s “last, best and final” offer.

The existing contract expired after several extensions at 11:59 p.m. April 25th.

If no deal is struck, the workers will go on strike Monday, May 6.