Crozer-Chester Medical Center officials said some small
progress is being made in negotiations with its nurses union on a new contract
— but wages and pensions remain “big sticking points.”
The Upland, Pa., hospital’s contract with its 600 registered
nurses, represented by Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied
Professionals, expired June 15.
The union members have agreed to stay on the job during
negotiations. Bill Cruice, executive director of PASNAP, said the union has
filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board over Crozer-Chester's
alleged failure to implement longevity pay increases after the current contract
expired.
The two sides met for the 12th time last week, and reached
verbal tentative agreements on provisions concerning staffing and professional
development and monthly union-management meetings. (They declined to offer
specifics as the negotiations are ongoing.)
Union officials said the two sides exchanged
counterproposals in areas such as displacement, layoffs and revised health
insurance benefits.
Two sides remain far apart on wages and pension payments.
PASNAP is seeking wage increases of between 1 percent and 3
percent, based on hospital net income levels. Crozer-Chester's compensation
proposal includes a lower wage scale with a first-year wage freeze.
In February, the hospital laid off about 250 workers as its
struggled with an operating deficit that, at the time, was $15.7 million.
Crozer-Chester issued a statement saying its nurses are paid
“at rates that are far above what nurses at comparable hospitals receive” and
Crozer-Keystone Health System, its parent company, continues to operate at a
"severe deficit" because of declining reimbursement and inpatient
volumes. The health system said its operations lost more than $32 million in
fiscal 2014, which ended June 30.
“The performance of individual hospitals is debatable, but
does not disguise the financial challenges facing our integrated health
system,” Crozer-Keystone officials said, adding that its non-bargaining unit
employees have not had a wage increase since September 2012. “We appreciate the
union’s professional and collegial approach. But we cannot continue to follow
the status quo indefinitely. We must have changes that bring RN wages, pay
practices, and benefits to sustainable levels, and we must complete them before
our financial challenges become even more acute.”
How much the nurses make is up for debate.
The average salary for a full-time Crozer-Chester nurse is
about $103,000, according to the health system. Cruice disputes that figure
saying PASNAP's review of its members W-2 forms put the average full-time
salary at about $84,000. He also said many nurses at the hospital work
part-time.
“The higher salary is reflective of the experience of the
nurses who work at the hospital,” Cruice said. “The hospital has a very senior
workforce, and nursing is one of those professions where you are paid more when
you gain more experience and knowledge.”
The union is also opposed to Crozer-Chester's proposal to
freeze its underfunded defined benefit pension plan, which has a deficit of
more than $200 million, and moved to a define contribution retirement plan as
of Jan. 1, 2015. While the union’s preference is to keep the pension as it is,
PASNAP proposed moving to a multi-employer pension plan patterned after one
created by the New England Nurses Association and a group of hospitals in
Massachusetts. Crozer-Chester said it believes that model was “risky at best.”
The two sides are scheduled to resume bargaining on Aug. 4.
Two additional sessions have been scheduled for later in the month.
Source: Philadelphia
Business Journal
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