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Flanked by three colleagues, a Wilkes-Barre General Hospital nurse asked Luzerne County Council on Tuesday to support her union’s efforts to address staffing issues as part of contract negotiations that have festered for more than a year.
“We’re basically fighting for your families. We’re fighting for you. We’re fighting for our families,” operating room nurse Jamie Fleming, of Pittston, told council.
She cited a ratio of six or seven patients per nurse.
“That’s not safe for anyone,” Fleming said.
Her union, the more than 400-member Wyoming Valley Nurses Association, has said it will hold a one-day strike Feb. 13 — as it did in May 2018 — if a new contract is not reached by then with the hospital’s owner, Tennessee-based Community Health Systems (CHS). The hospital is part of Commonwealth Health, a CHS affiliate.
The next and only scheduled negotiation before the strike date is today. Last May, the hospital locked out the nurses for four additional days.
Councilman Robert Schnee asked if Community Health is meeting face-to-face with the union at the negotiating table, and Fleming said the company has been “sending a mediator.”
His voice rising, Schnee had this response:
“That’s insulting. I’m telling you to say that. That’s insulting. I know what you do. You are way understaffed, and all you’re doing is asking for help, and they won’t even come to the table.”
Councilwoman Jane Walsh Waitkus said her late mother had worked as a registered nurse at Wilkes-Barre General for 35 years and would be displeased with the current situation. She asked Fleming for verification that the union’s push is for patient safety and “not over money.”
Fleming said “safe staffing” is the focus of her union, which is part of the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals, or PASNAP.
“We don’t even want more money,” Fleming told council. “I’d be lying to you if people said they didn’t want money, but we’re looking for staff.”
Walsh Waitkus said patient safety impacts everyone needing services.
“You deserve all the support you can get,” Walsh Waitkus said as several council and audience members clapped.
Through spokeswoman Renita Fennick, the hospital said it continues to provide the community with the highest quality of care and remains committed to the safety of patients, staff and visitors.
“Our bargaining team has been negotiating in good faith with PASNAP for more than a year, actively participating in more than 20 bargaining sessions under the auspices of a neutral party, the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service,” Fennick said. “Our strongest intent is to reach a mutually acceptable agreement.”
Councilwoman Sheila Saidman asked about the status of a state Department of Health inspection based on documents the union submitted on its concerns of not enough nurses on staff to properly care for patients. The state’s review found deficiencies the hospital was ordered to address.
Fleming said the deficiencies have not been corrected. The union proposed offering retention bonuses and a “float team” of nurses who are multi-trained in emergency room, operating room and critical care at higher hourly wages to “fill in the gaps,” she said.
According to Fleming, Community Health questioned why it would get nurses to be multi-trained when it “can’t get nurses to stay at the regular wage.”
“So they’re pretty much laughing in our faces,” Fleming said.
Saidman said there may be an incentive for progress.
“You’d probably be in good shape because I’m pretty sure Community Health is looking for a buyer,” Saidman said.
“No one wants to buy them,” Fleming asserted.
Fennick provided a different update on the status of the state review Wednesday, saying the health department performed follow-up visits and found the hospital to be compliant in meeting the required standards of care.
“Leadership of the hospital — administration, medical staff and board of trustees — is engaged to monitor progress and identify opportunities for continued improvement,” Fennick said.
Fleming asked council to consider writing a letter of support to show “our community is stronger than their for-profit organization.” State Rep. Gerald Mullery, D-Nanticoke, and U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Scranton, already have written letters, she said.
Council Chairman Tim McGinley said he will place the matter on the Feb. 12 council agenda if he receives a request to do so from any council colleagues.