Ryan Mallis, a registered nurse who works in the ICU at Geisinger Wyoming Valley, stands at the podium surrounded by fellow members of the SEIU Healthcare PA bargaining committee during a press conference Tuesday at Holiday Inn Wilkes-Barre - East Mountain, in Plains Township. During the conference, they highlighted contract priorities as they began negotiations for a new three-year union contract with Geisinger Wyoming Valley.
Margaret Roarty | Times Leader
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PLAINS TWP. — Unionized registered nurses at Geisinger Wyoming Valley are ready to fight for fair wages and safe working conditions for both staff and patients as they begin contract negotiations with Geisinger.
SEIU Healthcare PA’s bargaining committee held a press conference Tuesday at Holiday Inn Wilkes-Barre – East Mountain, where they highlighted contract priorities following the first day of negotiations.
SEIU represents 800 registered nurses at GVW, whose contract is set to expire in January 2025.
Geisinger was acquired by Risant Health earlier this year. It continues, however, to operate independently from Risant, according to Geisinger spokesperson Matt Mattei. Negotiations are exclusively between the SEIU and Geisinger, he said.
Union members were joined Tuesday by representatives from local organizations NEPA Stands Up and Action Together NEPA, as well as State Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski and Second Vice President of the Wilkes-Barre Chapter of the NAACP Melissa Rivers.
“We’re calling for new standards in Northeastern Pennsylvania, similar to what Risant and Kaiser have negotiated elsewhere: adequate wages that keep up with inflation, fully paid health care for nurses and strong health and safety measures to address the nationwide rise in violence and its health care workers,” said Ryan Mallis, who has worked as a registered nurse in the ICU at Geisinger for about seven years.
Union members called on Geisinger Wyoming Valley to stick to its promise of investing in its employees and the community by implementing competitive pay that will attract and retain employees in order make up for an extreme staffing shortage.
“We would need over 300 new nurses to fill in the gaps missing throughout various departments at Geisinger,” said Mallis.
During the press conference, one union member held up a sign with a graph that illustrated that Geisinger’s turnover rate is currently higher than the national average.
“We’re losing our nurses because there’s pay in other places and there’s better health care coverage in other places,” Mallis explained, noting that wages at Geisinger are behind other hospitals in the state, such as Hershey Medical Center.
In response to this claim, Geisinger stated, “The SEIU’s information is incorrect. The turnover rate for registered nurses at Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center is lower than both the national benchmark for top-tier hospitals and the national average.”
This staffing shortage has lend to a decline in patient care, union members said, and has forced nurses to work longer hours, neglecting their own health and safety in the process.
“We deserve to feel supported by the hospital that we are working for instead of always feeling like it’s a fight to get what we need,” said Lauren Harris, a registered nurse at Geisinger South Emergency Department. “Our newer nurses deserve to gain valuable experience in nursing care that allows them to imagine themselves doing this work.”
While Harris loves working at Geisinger, she took a huge pay cut when she left her job as a traveling nurse, which has drastically changed the lives of her family members.
“It was a huge disappointment to realize that the nurses at Geisinger were having a hard time paying for basic needs on the wages being offered,” she said.
Mattei responded to the claim about Geisinger’s turnover rate, sating SEIU’s information is incorrect: “The turnover rate for registered nurses at Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center is lower than both the national benchmark for top-tier hospitals and the national average.”
Action Together NEPA Executive Director Alisha Hoffman-Mirilovich stressed the importance of paying workers a living wage in order to build a prosperous economy.
“They should not have to worry about affording health care insurance themselves while being employed by one of the biggest health care networks in the United States. No matter who we are or where we live, we all trust nurses to take care of our most vulnerable, often during scary times,” Hoffman-Mirilovich said.
Pashinski echoed those sentiments.
“What I’m here for is fairness. I know it takes money. I know that it takes a great deal of sacrifice, investment, time, work, but you wouldn’t have a hospital without these people that are here today,” he said.
Despite obvious grievances, union members remained hopeful that they will win a fair contract that addresses their concerns.
“We’ve always had a good relationship with management in the past. I would like to continue that,” Mallis said. “I would even like to move forward with our collaborative efforts to deliver better care to the people of this area.”
Geisinger released the following statement in regard to SEIU’s public comments so far:
“Geisinger values the critical contributions of our registered nurses in the delivery of care at Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center. We appreciate the expertise and compassion with which they care for our community and respect their rights as SEIU members. We are committed to good-faith bargaining to reach a mutually agreeable labor contract. While a member of Risant Health, Geisinger operates independently, and these negotiations are exclusively between Geisinger and the SEIU.”
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to add a statement from Geisinger and to correct an earlier version that incorrectly stated that contract negotiations are between SEIU and Kaiser-Risant.