Friday, September 9, 2016

Nurses at Montco hospitals vote to join union



Nurses at Pottstown Memorial Medical Center voted 189 to 129 to join the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals.


The 347 nurses at the western Montgomery County hospital are the fifth group of nurses to join PASNAP this year. Earlier this year, registered nurses at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children, Hahnemann University Hospital, Einstein Medical Center Philadelphia and Delaware County Memorial Hospital also joined the same union.

“Nurses and other healthcare professionals are clearly sending the message that their hospital’s priorities, and resources, must shift immediately to the bedside and to patient care,” said Bill Cruice, executive director of PASNAP, which represents about 8,000 nurses and allied health professionals statewide.

Pottstown Memorial Medical Center is owned by Community Health Systems, a for-profit hospital management company based in Franklin, Tennessee.

The hospital, in a statement, said: "We are committed to continuing in a productive, mutually beneficial and respectful relationship with all of our employees."

The Pottstown nurses, according to union officials, began organizing themselves in late April because of concerns about staffing levels, broken equipment, inadequate training and below market wages, and employee health insurance.


Source: Philadelphia Business Journal

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