Nurses' union plans protest at Crozer-Chester

Nurses at Crozer-Chester Medical Center plan to picket outside the Delaware County hospital Tuesday afternoon to protest what they say is “ongoing bad faith bargaining” by the hospital’s administration and “chronic short staffing” levels.

The hospital administration, meanwhile, says it's waiting to hear a counterproposal from the union.

The Crozer-Chester Nurses Association’s contract at the hospital is set to expire June 8.

Last week the nurses voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike, but the union and its 600 nurses at the Upland, Pa., hospital will continue to work under the terms of the current contract agreement while bargaining continues.

Crozer-Keystone Health System issued the following statement on the negotiations: 

“We acknowledge the union’s right to engage in peaceful informational picketing, but we feel that their time would be better spent giving management the remainder of their proposals. At our very first meeting, we presented the Union with a comprehensive overview of our proposals. We are still waiting for meaningful counterproposals on many contract provisions. We have been bargaining in good faith and doing everything in our power to arrive at a fair settlement.”

Health system officials went on to say: 

They “were hoping that the union would work cooperatively with us to help address the very real financial challenges faced by Crozer, which like hospitals and health-care systems across the country, is facing declines in reimbursements and inpatient volumes. Instead, the relatively few proposals received from the union so far call for wage increases and/or expensive additional benefits for a group that is already the best-paid contingent of nurses in Pennsylvania.”

The Crozer-Chester Nurses Association is part of The Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals, a union of 5,000 nurses and health professionals throughout Pennsylvania.

Source: Philadelphia Business Journal