After their 48-hour strike on Tuesday and Wednesday – and an additional three days due to St. Mary Medical Center honoring a five-day contract of the temporary agency nurses brought in to serve patients during the strike – the Langhorne nurses returned to work this morning at 7 a.m.
The goal of the strike was to force owner Trinity Health Systems to grant safe minimal staffing levels during COVID-19, and offer a competitive salary seen at nearly hospitals. While Trinity previously stated it’s willingness to bargain with PASNAP (Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals), the nurses said the health system refused to meet their demands.
“We walked back in this morning with our heads held high,” said Bill Engle, RN. “We are proud of what we accomplished, raising our concerns to Trinity and to the community. Now that St. Chris, Einstein, Lower Bucks, Suburban, Jeanes and Mercy Fitzgerald have all reached agreements to improve basic staffing levels, it’s time for Trinity to do the same.”
St. Mary president Lawrence Brilliant, MD, said the hospital was alerted to reports of several known COVID-19 exposures, symptoms and positive tests among those engaging in the strike, as well as reports of inappropriate mask-wearing and the absence of social distancing. Brilliant added that the hospital is partnering with the Bucks County Health Department to conduct contact tracing, and all returning striking nurses will be subject to the hospital’s screening and testing procedures.
“Today, despite having received notice of known exposures, symptoms and positive tests on the picket line, the union chose to continue to picket in large numbers without, in our opinion, following the required CDC and Health Department COVID-related safety protocols,” Brilliant said. “The hospital acknowledges the union’s legal right to strike and picket. However, in light of PASNAP’s message of ‘safety,’ we are shocked that the union has all but completely disregarded published public health recommendations to protect our community.”
PASNAP, on the other hand, said Brilliant’s statement “is diverting scrutiny away from the fact they brought in 178 agency nurses from around the country” from likely COVID-19 hot spots.
“I find it puzzling that Trinity is suddenly concerned about my risk of COVID-19 exposure while I am outside wearing a mask,” said Debbi Bozeman, RN. “When I’m working inside the hospital, we are forced to eat lunch in small rooms with other coworkers. The hospital also holds lunch-and-learn training sessions with large groups of residents not wearing masks.”
“The reason we demonstrated outside the hospital was to call attention to our serious concerns about staffing that are at the heart of our contract fight,” said Esmond Herry, RN. “This is simply an attempt by Trinity to deflect attention from the serious problems going on inside. Trinity is again choosing to fight its own nurses, whom they locked out of the hospital, rather than address the serious issues within it.”
Hospital officials stated last week that refusing the striking nurses entry into the hospital from Thursday, Nov. 19 through this morning was because of the five-day contract with the agency nurses.
“The contract with the replacement nurses’ agency guarantees them five days of work and reinstating the St. Mary nurses cannot be accomplished overnight,” said officials. “It took several days to transition care to the replacement nurses we have hired, and it will take several days to transition patient care back to striking St. Mary nurses in a safe and orderly way.”
Brilliant said St. Mary “remains committed to bargaining in good faith to reach agreement on a fair, consistent and sustainable initial contract” for the nurses. Additional negotiations have not been scheduled at this time.
