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November 17

State prison nurses protest outsourcing services

Union stages pickets at 10 state prisons, inviting other union officials to join in.

By Matt Hughes mhughes@timesleader.com
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HUNLOCK TWP. – State corrections nurses stood outside S.C.I. Retreat on Wednesday to protest a move to outsource health care and other services in state prisons.

Standing alongside Route 11 next to the bridge providing access to the medium-security state correctional institution, the nurses held placards proclaiming “safety is not for sale” and “quality care here keeps you safe out there,” reflecting the nursing union’s position that the move would threaten public safety.

The protest was organized by SEIU Healthcare PA, which represents 320 nurses at the state’s 27 correctional facilities and 10 of the 17 nurses at SCI Retreat.

According to SCI Retreat spokeswoman Christine McMillan, some health care and medical records services at state prisons were provided by Prison Health Services, a private company that was purchased in a merger with another company. That merger allows the state to put health care service contracts up for bid.

Nurses at the prison are state employees, but the request for proposals for the contract could add nursing services to the services provided by private companies, and that is the scenario the nurses are hoping to avoid.

“It’s the whole medical department they’re trying to outsource right now, to privatize. We’re state workers and we want to keep our jobs,” said Renee Waligun, a corrections nurse at SCI Dallas. “Corrections is our core government service, and cutting corners puts our communities at risk.”

SEIU staged protests at 10 state prisons Wednesday, inviting nurses from nearby prisons and other union officials to join the protest. SEIU said participants did so during breaks and did not skip work.

The protest coincided with the introduction of a bill by state Rep. Mike Fleck, R-Huntingdon County, and Sen. David G. Argall, R- Schuylkill County, that would block the move.

McMillan said no nurses would lose their jobs in the deal, which would affect about 800 workers; they would simply have a different employer.

But the union claims the move could lead to reductions in wages and benefits that would lead many corrections nurses to seek employment elsewhere.

That could, in turn, lead to inexperienced, under-qualified nurses being placed into a high-risk environment, compromising the safety of prison employees, inmates and ultimately the public, the union maintains.

“We’re specially trained; we do attend the same academy that the corrections officers attend …We’re trained in security and safety for both the inmates and the staff,” Waligun said. “New intake nurses, if they were hired from the private sector, they just don’t have the training that we have.”

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