Nurses’ strike at WBGH not only labor issue with corporate owner

July 04--WILKES-BARRE -- The strike set to begin today by nurses at Wilkes-Barre General Hospital is part of a pattern of discontent between some unionized workers and the corporate owner of the health care facility.

Contract negotiations broke down last month over staffing and health insurance, prompting the more than 460 nurses represented by the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals to authorize a five-day strike. Temporary nurses will work shifts during the strike and the hospital said it will remain open without an interruption to patient care.

It's the latest labor dispute facing Community Health Systems at hospitals it owns in California, Ohio and West Virginia. The discord has been documented by unions in complaints with federal agencies and courts, as recently as May 19, in a letter addressed to the Securities Exchange Commission in Washington, D.C.

CHS, the largest owner of for-profit hospitals in the country, filed an annual report with the SEC listing a total of 87,000 full-time and part-time employees, including 8,000 unionized workers, at the end of last year.

"We currently believe that our labor relations are good," CHS wrote.

Unions disagree

But the California Nurses Association and National Nurses United disagreed and called for the SEC to look into the what the unions said was misleading information to shareholders. Strikes cost $10 million last year for the company that reported net income of $141 million and the labor relation policies that CHS pursues "clearly have material financial risks for the company," the letter read.

"In fact, labor relations at CHS may be worse than at any other health care system in the United States," the letter read.

Chuck Idelson of National Nurses United said the SEC has not responded to the letter.

A spokeswoman for the SEC, Judith Burns, declined comment Thursday.

Idelson, who was aware of the strike notice for WBGH, said CHS has repeatedly been sanctioned by the National Labor Relations Board, and the federal courts that have issued rare injunctions forcing immediate compliance with labor laws.

"CHS is probably, may very well be the most lawless syndicate in the health care industry," he said.

The unions continue to file complaints and go to court to push CHS to be responsive to the rights of the nurses and prevent the corporation from repeating the violations, Idelson said.

Tomi Galin, a spokeswoman for Franklin, Tennessee-based CHS, disputed the unions' position stated in the letter.

"Across our organization, CHS affiliated hospitals enjoy good relations with their employees, including those who are represented by unions. Overall employee satisfaction is at about 85 percent," Galin said Friday in an email. "We value and respect all of the employees of our affiliated hospitals and greatly appreciate the outstanding care they provide for their patients."

She added that five CHS-affiliated hospitals are "testing certification of elections by the California Nurses Association, PASNAP's national union partner" and awaiting resolutions in the cases.

Individual hospitals negotiate labor agreements with unionized employees and most of them "go very well, without the union resorting to publicity tactics or strikes like the one planned by PASNAP this weekend," she said.

At the 11 CHS-affiliated hospitals in Pennsylvania that have unionized employees, there have been four strikes during the past 10 years and three of them have been by PASNAP at WBGH, Galin pointed out.

Pattern developing?

Bill Cruice, executive director of the PASNAP based in Conshohocken, agreed that the contracts are negotiated individually and expected that response from CHS.

But when the complaints with the NLRB are strung together, a pattern develops and "one has to wonder whether this Tennessee company is acting in good faith in our community," Cruice said.

The WBGH nurses have a July 14 hearing at the NLRB Philadelphia offices before an administrative law judge on complaints that the hospital failed to provide information the union said was necessary for negotiating a new contract. They've been working under the terms of the contract that expired on April 30, 2013.

CHS purchased the hospital and other assets of the former Wyoming Valley Health Care System for $271 million in 2009.

"When they first came, we were hopeful," Cruice said. The nurses were looking for a break from the contentious labor environment with WVHCS, he said. The nurses went on strike in January 2003 and came back to work after two weeks with a new contract.

But CHS honeymoon was "all too brief" lasting about nine months, Cruice said.

The nurses worked under the terms of their old contract with WVHCS until reaching a new contract in 2011.

In the interim the nurses held a 24-hour strike from Dec. 23 to 24 in 2010. They held a 24-hour strike on Dec. 3</chron> of last year and were locked out two additional days with temporary replacements on the floors.

The nurses were reluctant to strike and be on the picket lines instead of with hospital patients, Cruice said.

They intend to return to work on July 9, but are not certain they will be allowed to do so if the hospital locks them out, Cruice said.

___

(c)2014 The Times Leader (Wilkes-Barre, Pa.)

Visit The Times Leader (Wilkes-Barre, Pa.) at www.timesleader.com

Distributed by MCT Information Services