The Crozer-Chester Medical Center may be staffed by outside, licensed contracted nurses for five days next week if the union nurses there go through with an intended strike of two days, a move Crozer-Chester officials contend will force them to employ the contracted nurses for an additional three days.
On Sept. 9, the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals, the parent union of the Crozer-Chester Nurses Association, notified the Crozer-Keystone Health System of their intent to strike for two days beginning 7 a.m. Sept. 21.
In order to have staff in place, Crozer-Keystone officials said they had to enter into a five-day work guarantee with U.S. Nursing Corp. nurses, an act that will cause positions vacated by striking nurses to not be available for the five-day duration. A representative for U.S. Nursing Corp. declined to comment.
The union is mailing out a postcard to 400 community leaders. It speaks of their concerns with regards to these workers as the union says these strike staffing companies, in general, do minimal drug and criminal background checks.
The postcard states that Crozer is paying up to $2 million to hire these nurses, who, the union says, are being paid a minimum $55 an hour and given free travel, meals, housing and transportation.
“Crozer’s administration should not inflict these highly questionable ‘scab agencies’ on the community here in Delaware County,” said Bill Cruice, PASNAP executive director. “Instead, they should avoid a strike altogether by bargaining in good faith to reach a fair agreement with the dedicated nursing staff.”
In a statement released by Grant Gegwich, Crozer-Keystone vice president of public relations and marketing, the health system neither confirmed nor denied what they are spending on contingency plans.
“If PASNAP follows through on its threat to walk out on our patients, Crozer-Chester Medical Center must provide licensed, certified, experienced and well-trained nurses to replace those who strike,” it read. “It is neither easy nor inexpensive to find nurses willing and able to travel into different hospital under stressful conditions and provide the level of care our community expects.”
It also stated that in many cases, the replacement nurses are less expensive than the union nurses, whom Crozer-Keystone officials have said average $103,000 annually. Union officials have said that number is incorrect and that the average yearly union nurse salary is $84,000.
Union officials are also alleging that Crozer’s human resources department sent a letter to employees last week indicating there would be a three-day lockout following a two-day strike.
Crozer-Keystone officials decried the description of their five-day work guarantee as a lockout.
“PASNAP’s comment is wrong,” the health system statement read. “We have informed PASNAP and nurses that the contingency staffing agreement – which we had no option but to enter into because of the union’s actions and threats – requires a guarantee of five days’ work for nurses to temporarily cover positions vacated by strikers.
“Therefore, once a strike begins, it is probable that many positions may not be available to returning strikers until five days have passed from the beginning of the strike,” it continued. “Once the union or strikers have made an unconditional offer to return and positions are available, we will reinstate them immediately. It is erroneous to call this a ‘lockout’ and the union knows it.”
The statement continues to read that the National Labor Relations Board maintains that an employer does not have to “pay double” for staff if an employer must hold over temporary replacements until the end of a work guarantee.
Cruice disagreed.”It is a lockout,” he said. “We have demanded to see the contract the hospital mentioned to prove it exists. To date, they have refused to produce it. Crozer has other facilities where they can move patients, or they can delay procedures – they have many options to manage the upcoming action without bringing in out-of-state replacement workers.”
He added that was, in part, why the union gave 11 days’ notice.
In the mailed postcard, the union referenced a Louisana-based strike replacement nurse who was staffing a California strike and was allegedly responsible for giving a patient a lethal drug overdose.
In their response statement, Crozer-Keystone officials said they believe the community is sophisticated enough to see through this scare tactic.
“Unfortunately, medical errors – while rare and tragic – can be and are made by doctors, technicians and nurses whether they are represented by unions or not,” it read. “It is disingenuous to imply that Crozer is putting patients at risk when it is the union that has unilaterally decided to walk out.”
Both sides have been negotiating since April. The contract expired June 8 and operations have continued. Another bargaining session is planned for today in the presence of a federal mediator.