Gearing up for a two-day strike starting Sunday, hospital
officials and union nurses at Crozer-Chester Medical Center can agree on one
thing:
Sunday's expected two-day work stoppage would represent a
failure of bargaining.
But the agreement ends there, as each side accuses the
other of irresponsible tactics in negotiating a contract for 550 nurses.
Also fueling the conflict is management's decision to
prevent the nurses from returning to work Tuesday morning as replacement nurses
fill their shifts for three more days.
The nurses have been working at the 424-bed hospital
under the terms of the old contract since it expired June 8.
"We don't believe a strike was necessary or helpful
to the bargaining process," said Grant Gegwich, spokesman for the hospital
in Upland.
And from union spokeswoman Emily Rodriguez of the
Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals:
"Management came in with a very aggressive stance from the beginning. We
suspected they were trying to push us out on strike."
Both sides met Wednesday. Another session is set for
Tuesday.
Issues include staffing, pay cuts, and pension funding as
most hospitals struggle with reduced patient loads, declining government
spending, and, in Crozer-Chester's case, a shift from patients with insurance
to those reliant on government programs that reimburse at a lower rate for
patient care.
"Honestly, it's the worst staffing I've ever
seen," said nurse Elaina Adams, describing juggling the care of six
seriously ill patients with demands from their doctors, therapists, and family
members, all while trying to retrieve patient data from three different
software systems.
"There are times you can't find the simplest tools
you need," she said. "We're running out of IV bags, we're running out
syringes. We can't find pumps. We can't find tubing for the pumps, poles to put
the pumps on. We can't find wheelchairs."
Gegwich disagreed. "It's unfortunate that union
nurses are resorting to inaccurate, negative statements about their own
hospital."
He said that staffing levels were above national averages
and that Crozer-Chester nurses earned an average of $103,000 a year.
The two sides are also at odds over the use of
replacement workers.
"Instead of subjecting our patients to out-of-state
strikebreakers, Crozer should return to the bargaining table and find common
ground with the nurses," nurse Bobbi McClay, local president of the union,
said in a statement.
Gegwich said the hospital had hired U.S. Nursing Corp., a
Colorado company that "in the event of a job action . . . will provide a
core group of proven health-care professionals," according to its website.
The union said advertisements on U.S. Nursing's website
offered an opportunity in Pennsylvania for $55 an hour for nurses, plus paid
transportation and living expenses. That adds up to $2 million, according to
estimates from the union's executive director, Bill Cruice.
Gegwich said the contract with U.S. Nursing required a
minimum of five days, an assertion Cruice disputed based on his experience with
the company during other strikes.
Cruice said the hospital could have chosen to scale back
and direct patients to the other Delaware County hospitals in the
Crozer-Keystone system instead.
"[The union is] complaining about costs and us
wasting money, but they are the ones who are causing us to do it," Gegwich
said.
In May, Moody's Investor Service downgraded Crozer's
debt, in part because of its underfunded pension plan, saying its $219 million
liability was "outsized relative to system resources."
Gegwich said the hospital system "lost $32 million
in operations" in the fiscal year that ended in June. Most losses occurred
in the first three quarters and slowed in the final quarter.
Cruice said admissions were rising and Crozer-Chester
Medical Center itself had a thin but positive margin when other revenue,
including investment returns, were considered.
Source: Philly.com
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