Nurses at St. Mary Medical Center in Middletown Township will go on strike starting Tuesday.
The two-day strike will take place Tuesday and Wednesday. The hospital, which is owned by Michigan-based Trinity Health, will remain open.
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The union nurses at the large hospital are represented by the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals (PASNAP). The union members – made up of about 775 nurses – voted overwhelmingly last month to authorize their bargaining committee to submit a 10-day strike notice to the hospital if they deem it necessary, which happened a few days after. The move came after months of negotiations since the nurses unionized last year.
The nurses have been upset about their pay rate that is lower than similar facilities, handling of COVID-19, staff retention, and one of the biggest complaints has been staffing levels at the hospital, according to nurses. Several nurses raised their concern to this news organization in late October.
PASNAP officials noted that the strike comes as the number of COVID-19 patients at the hospital rises, causing long waits.
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“Safe staffing is the main issue in our negotiation – it’s why we organized last year in the first place,” said 10-year hospital nurse Kathy McKamey. “Trinity has refused to commit to the minimal safe staffing guidelines every study out there has said improve patient outcomes. But the truth is, even if they had, we don’t have the staff to fill them because our wage scale is so far below that of area hospitals. Nurses are literally fleeing to other hospitals 20 minutes away where they can make $6 to $7 more an hour. My unit alone has lost 20 nurses since January.”
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