From left, Julia McNelis, Mitchel Klein, Elizabeth Lester, and Kayla Wedlock participated in Wednesday night’s ‘Rally to Shine a Light on the Crisis at Geisinger’ event on Public Square in Wilkes-Barre.
Sam Zavada | Times Leader
Striking Geisinger nurses and their supporters hold up their signs during Kayla Wedlock’s speech at Wednesday night’s ‘Rally to Shine a Light on the Crisis at Geisinger’ event on Public Square in Wilkes-Barre.
Sam Zavada | Times Leader
State Rep. James Haggerty was among the guest speakers at Wednesday night’s ‘Rally to Shine a Light on the Crisis at Geisinger’ event on Public Square in Wilkes-Barre.
Sam Zavada | Times Leader
Registered nurse Lauren Harris served as emcee during Wednesday night’s ‘Rally to Shine a Light on the Crisis at Geisinger’ event on Public Square in Wilkes-Barre.
Sam Zavada | Times Leader
WILKES-BARRE — Day three of the Geisinger nurses’ strike hit Public Square on Wednesday evening for the “Rally to Shine a Light on the Crisis at Geisinger.” After spending ten hours on the picket lines earlier in the day, the nurses and their most ardent supporters gathered for the cause they have in common.
“I’ve been a nurse for 40 years — I’ve never been on strike before. I’ve always been a union nurse, and I’ve never been on strike before,” said Eileen Bray, a vascular access nurse at Geisinger Wyoming Valley and a member of the bargaining negotiating committee.
The strike includes nurses at three Geisinger Wyoming Valley locations — the main medical center, Geisinger South, and Geisinger Healthplex CenterPoint.
Among the supporters were those close to the nurses, and those who are not so close — geographically, at least. Some SEIU Healthcare union members from other states traveled thousands of miles to stand with their fellow nurses. Even non-union workers within the Geisinger system are showing their support for the nurses.
“Some people that aren’t even in the union are out there striking with us, so we’re getting a lot of support from our co-workers that are not RNs, and our friends and families,” said Bray through the sound of supportive honks from the cars driving by. “It’s really nice to see the community is behind us.”
The community support was perhaps even more impressive considering Wednesday evening’s frigid temperatures.
“The weather has not affected us. We’ve all dressed warm,” said Theresa Naro, a nurse in the operating room at Geisinger Healthplex Centerpoint and another member of the negotiating committee. “We’re all doing four, six, ten hours on the picket line, doing what we need to do, getting a lot of attention out there to the public.”
The union had previously cited disagreements on “the crisis of more than 300 unfilled nursing positions and severe understaffing, turnover and burnout that has been caused by a lack of competitive wages, exorbitant health care costs and rising workplace violence” as persistent roadblocks in reaching an agreement. Those disagreements with management were clearly stated on Wednesday.
According to Naro, the crowd of nurses who came to the Public Square rally are true believers in the cause.
“We’re all totally committed to this. It’s been a long time coming,” Naro said. “I don’t think management, at first took us seriously — that we would strike, that we would have the solidarity we needed — and we proved them wrong.”
The strike has a cost, of course. The time spent on the picket line, according to Naro, is less than ideal for health care workers who genuinely wish to help people.
“Where we want to be is inside. We want to be taking care of our patients. That’s what we do. We’re registered nurses,” Naro said. “We care for each other, we care for our community, we care for our patients. We don’t want to be out here on the picket line; we want to be at bedside doing our job.”
Gesinger’s response
As previously reported by the Times Leader, Geisinger facilities are expected to remain open amid the strike. The health care provider said in a statement issued Monday that it brought on additional, temporary staff and does not expect to postpone any procedures or elective surgeries during the strike.
In its statement released Monday, Geisinger also acknowledged the “critical role” union nurses play in the delivery of care at the three locations.
“We value their commitment to our community, and we respect their right to collectively bargain. Throughout this negotiation cycle, we’ve been committed to good-faith bargaining to reach a mutually agreeable labor contract. Our offers have been comprehensive, competitive and sustainable. They reflect a significant increase from the compensation and benefits package that SEIU agreed to and celebrated as historic in 2022,” the statement read.
Additionally, Geisinger said it is facing the same challenges other health care providers are facing nationwide, including increasingly high operating costs and poor reimbursement — particularly from the Federal Government.
However, Geisinger said it “continues to offer its union-affiliated registered nurses region-leading compensation and benefits. We’ve offered a starting salary of more than $85,000 per year for full-time nurses with yearly increases and comprehensive health benefits.”
Although it recently became part of Risant Health, created by Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, Geisinger reiterated that it “is an independent health system that receives no operating funds from Risant.”
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