When will striking Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital nurses return to work?

It's been nearly a month since about 1,700 nurses at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick went on strike over staffing levels and other issues.

And there's no end in sight.

While the hospital maintains focused on caring for patients, with the New Brunswick facility fully operational, it appears no new negotiations are planned anytime soon.

Meanwhile the striking nurses are set to lose their medical benefits Sept. 1, said Judy Danella, a 28-year nurse at the hospital and president of United Steel Workers Local 4-200, the union representing the nurses. She said the union offers a basic health insurance plan the nurses can have, and the rest will have COBRA, which can be expensive.

"It's very sad that we're working for one of the largest health care organizations in the state of New Jersey and we will not have benefits come Friday morning when we wake up," Danella said.

“We have said all along that no one benefits from a strike – least of all our nurses," said Wendy Gottsegen, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital spokesperson, in a statement this week. "We hope the union considers the impact a prolonged strike is having on our nurses and their families. As of Sept. 1, RWJUH nurses must pay for their health benefits through COBRA. This hardship, in addition to the loss of wages throughout the strike, is very unfortunate and has been openly communicated to the union and the striking nurses since prior to the walk-out on August 4."

In the statement Gottsegen said both parties last met Aug. 16 for about seven hours of talks with the assistance of two federal mediators, but there was no progress and no further dates for negotiations have been scheduled.

She said the parties are waiting for the mediators to schedule the next bargaining session.

Danella agreed that no further negotiations are scheduled at this time.

"But at any time, we're willing to have conversations," she said.

"We gave the last proposal to the hospital on (Aug. 8) and on (Aug. 16) they rejected that, and they never came back with any other proposal. It's not that we're that far apart. We just want the safe staffing," Danella said.

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A primary point of contention in the talks is the hospital apparently penalizing nurses who call out sick, something the union would like to see removed, Danella said.

She said the hospital maintains nurses take turns calling out sick to get a monetary benefit.

"We want the standards without all the penalties the hospital is imposing," Danella said. "There is no nurse that is going to call out purposely to harm her co-workers and get more money. We get sick benefits because we work in an environment where we will get sick with COVID, we will get sick with respiratory infections, we will get sick."

Another point of contention is the ratio between nurses and patients.

Danella said the ratio is about 1 to 3 nurses to patients in critical care areas, 1 to 6 for nurses giving chemotherapy, and in the emergency room the ratio can be 1 to 8, 9, or 10. The union wanted a 1 to 5 ratio in the medical surgery area, 1 to 2 in the intensive care areas, and to take into account there are some patients in intensive care who need 1 to 1 care, but that was rejected by the hospital, Danella said.

According to Gottsegen, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital did everything it could to avoid a strike, including signing a memorandum of agreement on July 13, which included the union’s core staffing proposal and compensation settlement.

"The union leaders signed it and agreed to recommend the (memorandum of agreement) to its membership, but did not. It was voted down by the nurses and a notice to strike was presented to the hospital," Gottsegen said in a statement. "Then on August 2, two days before the strike, the hospital submitted a proposal to the union that went even further than what was in the MOA, and the union never presented that proposal to its membership before they went out on strike."

Gottsegen said the hospital offered to enter binding arbitration or participate in a federal mediation and conciliation board of inquiry, but the union refused both offers. When the hospital requested the union rescind its strike notice and return to the table to continue good faith negotiations, the union said no.

“During the 10-day window prior to the strike, the hospital made another counteroffer to attempt to avert the strike. The union did not respond to the offer until after the strike," Gottsegen's statement said. “Since the strike, mediation has not been productive; counteroffers from the union have far exceeded all previous asks, including those the union agreed to in the MOA."

According to Gottsegen, the nurses are the highest paid in the state and all offers by the hospital would have elevated their status. She added the hospital recognizes the toll the pandemic took on its nurses and has worked to address staffing by adding 200 staff nurse positions since last year, while New Jersey faces 14,000 nurse vacancies.

But Danella said she has a friend who has worked as a nurse for many years who will make more money at a smaller hospital.

"It is not about the money, it's about the staffing. In order to keeping the staffing levels and nurses at the bedside we have to do something to keep them there," Danella said, adding her union nurses don't get a weekend differential or other extras that other hospitals offer.

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 contract talks stalled