Mercy Health's financial agreements with FC Cincinnati have taken center stage in an ongoing labor dispute between the Bond Hill-based hospital chain and its unionized workers in Toledo.

Officials from the United Auto Workers and Mercy Health St. Vincent Medical Center resumed negotiations Monday after negotiations broke down a few days earlier.

Nearly 2,000 nurses and support staff represented by the UAW are on strike in Toledo over staffing issues, on-call policies and the cost of their health care.

Critics have argued many of those problems could be resolved with the money that Mercy Health is spending to be the "Official Health Care Provider'' for FC Cincinnati.

Mercy Health is now known as Bon Secours Mercy Health after merging with Bon Secours Health System of Marriottsville, Md. last year.

"At the same time Mercy has not properly invested in its Toledo hospital, it has spent millions of dollars on Cincinnati’s professional soccer team,'' Andre Washington, president of the Ohio chapter of the A. Philip Randolph Institute, wrote in a letter to Mercy Health CEO John Starcher on Monday. The A. Philip Randolf is a civil rights group affiliated with the AFL-CIO.

Washington went on to request a meeting with Starcher "to discuss with you the hospital’s new emphasis on promoting professional soccer and caring for professional athletes to learn how it comports with Mercy Health’s stated mission.''

In addition to signing on as a jersey sponsor for FCC, Mercy Health - the largest hospital network in Ohio - also signed a naming-rights deal for the club’s Milford training complex, known as the Mercy Health Training Center.

Terms of the deals were not disclosed. But Sports Business Daily reported in 2017 that jersey deal alone is worth about $5 million a year over 10 years.

That's close to the Major League Soccer salary cap of $4.2 million this year.

An FCC team official referred an Enquirer request for comment to Mercy Health.

Hospital officials responded with a statement: "Mercy Health’s decision to partner with FC Cincinnati is completely unrelated to our ongoing negotiations with the local UAW in Toledo. Our partnership is a Cincinnati-specific community engagement and marketing objective.''

Still, Washington was not alone in his criticism of the largest hospital network in Ohio with nearly 500 care facilities, including 23 hospitals and 26 post-acute care facilities and senior living communities.

In prepared remarks, Dan Desmond, Toledo Firefighters Local 92 president, expressed unity with the nurses union and disappointment in Mercy Health.

"Today, we live in a city with a hospital – Mercy Health – that has been making major investments in Cincinnati’s professional soccer team at the same time it is hurting workers and patients in Greater Toledo,'' Desmond stated.

"If Mercy has money to slap its name on soccer jerseys in Cincinnati and slap its name on a training facility for a soccer team in Cincinnati it should have enough money to properly staff its hospital in Toledo.''

Mercy Health: Five things to know

1. Mercy Health is part of Bon Secours Mercy Health, one of the Top 20 health systems in the United States.

2. Mercy Health is the largest health system in Ohio and among the top five employers in the state, with more than 33,500 employees serving communities throughout Ohio and in Kentucky.

3. Mercy Health has assets of $6.8 billion and nearly 500 care facilities including 23 hospitals and 26 post-acute care facilities including senior living communities, hospice programs and home health agencies.

4. Mercy Health employes more than 2,700 health care providers, serving more than 350,000 patients.

5.Mercy Health has five Cincinnati-area hospitals.