RWJ New Brunswick nurses strike enters third month. Is there any end in sight?
NEW BRUNSWICK – Despite a federal mediation session, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital and striking nurses are still without a new contract as sides remain dug in their positions in the strike that has entered its third month.
“The union wants more than any health care organization would ever agree to," Wendy Gottsegen, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital spokesperson, said in a statement Friday.
"The union just wants a fair contract which includes safe staffing for the patient and safety for the nurses," Judy Danella, a 28-year nurse at the hospital and president of United Steel Workers Local 4-200, said in a text message Friday.
The two sides met with a federal mediator for six hours and are scheduled to resume negotiating next week.
“The hospital has continued to offer language in support of top-of-market wages, as well as safe-staffing standards that meet or exceed levels set forth by legislation in states like California and in a number of hospital labor settlements across the country,” Gottsegen said in a statement. “While we remain disappointed by the union’s continued advancement of untenable outlier positions, we look forward to returning to the negotiating table Tuesday, when the mediator has scheduled the next session."
The nurses, who belong to United Steel Workers Local 4-200, have been on strike since early August over staffing levels and other issues. Many union nurses lost their health insurance last month.
The hospital meanwhile has spent $76.2 million on substitute nurses.
Gottsegen said the union made the decision to strike despite the hospital's request that the parties continue to negotiate.
"Even worse, USW 4-200 continues to mislead the public regarding the issue of staffing, ignoring the fact that RWJUH agreed to the union’s staffing proposal. It was memorialized in a formal agreement signed by both parties that also required the union leadership to recommend it to its membership, which it failed to do," Gottsegen said.
Watch: Tens of thousands of healthcare workers on strike
According to Gottsegen, the staffing level at the hospital is among the highest in New Jersey.
"In fact, the hospital is staffed by 170 more nurses than is called for in the recently proposed staffing legislation in Trenton that the union claims to support,” Gottsegen said.
“If there was any validity to the union’s claims that staffing is not safe, then it would propose that the hospital hire more nurses instead of proposing that nurses receive an additional $20 per hour," she continued.
“If the union was serious about wanting to end this strike so its members can return to work, it would have agreed to the hospital’s offer for nurses to return to work and allow an independent arbitrator to review all the facts and issue a binding decision setting forth the terms of a new contract. If staffing was not safe, as falsely alleged by the union, the union would have jumped at that offer," Gottsegen said.
Besides staffing, union leadership has repeatedly stressed removing any penalties for nurses who call out sick.
Danella has said the hospital penalizes nurses who call out sick, something the union would like to see removed. She said the hospital maintains nurses take turns calling out sick to get a monetary benefit, but Danella maintains nurses get sick benefits because they work in an environment where people have COVID and respiratory infections.
The union also has been seeking a change in the ratio of nurses to patients, which varies in different areas of the hospital, Danella has said.
Email: srussell@gannettnj.com
Suzanne Russell is a breaking news reporter for MyCentralJersey.com covering crime, courts and other mayhem. To get unlimited access, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital nurses strike passes 3 months
