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Crozer braces for nurses' strike

Gearing up for a two-day strike starting Sunday, hospital officials and union nurses at Crozer-Chester Medical Center can agree on one thing:

Preparing for Sunday's strike, Mark Warshaw of the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals staples picket signs. (Charles Fox / Staff Photographer)
Preparing for Sunday's strike, Mark Warshaw of the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals staples picket signs. (Charles Fox / Staff Photographer)Read more

Gearing up for a two-day strike starting Sunday, hospital officials and union nurses at Crozer-Chester Medical Center can agree on one thing:

Sunday's expected two-day work stoppage would represent a failure of bargaining.

But the agreement ends there, as each side accuses the other of irresponsible tactics in negotiating a contract for 550 nurses.

Also fueling the conflict is management's decision to prevent the nurses from returning to work Tuesday morning as replacement nurses fill their shifts for three more days.

The nurses have been working at the 424-bed hospital under the terms of the old contract since it expired June 8.

"We don't believe a strike was necessary or helpful to the bargaining process," said Grant Gegwich, spokesman for the hospital in Upland.

And from union spokeswoman Emily Rodriguez of the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals: "Management came in with a very aggressive stance from the beginning. We suspected they were trying to push us out on strike."

Both sides met Wednesday. Another session is set for Tuesday.

Issues include staffing, pay cuts, and pension funding as most hospitals struggle with reduced patient loads, declining government spending, and, in Crozer-Chester's case, a shift from patients with insurance to those reliant on government programs that reimburse at a lower rate for patient care.

"Honestly, it's the worst staffing I've ever seen," said nurse Elaina Adams, describing juggling the care of six seriously ill patients with demands from their doctors, therapists, and family members, all while trying to retrieve patient data from three different software systems.

"There are times you can't find the simplest tools you need," she said. "We're running out of IV bags, we're running out syringes. We can't find pumps. We can't find tubing for the pumps, poles to put the pumps on. We can't find wheelchairs."

Gegwich disagreed. "It's unfortunate that union nurses are resorting to inaccurate, negative statements about their own hospital."

He said that staffing levels were above national averages and that Crozer-Chester nurses earned an average of $103,000 a year.

The two sides are also at odds over the use of replacement workers.

"Instead of subjecting our patients to out-of-state strikebreakers, Crozer should return to the bargaining table and find common ground with the nurses," nurse Bobbi McClay, local president of the union, said in a statement.

Gegwich said the hospital had hired U.S. Nursing Corp., a Colorado company that "in the event of a job action . . . will provide a core group of proven health-care professionals," according to its website.

The union said advertisements on U.S. Nursing's website offered an opportunity in Pennsylvania for $55 an hour for nurses, plus paid transportation and living expenses. That adds up to $2 million, according to estimates from the union's executive director, Bill Cruice.

Gegwich said the contract with U.S. Nursing required a minimum of five days, an assertion Cruice disputed based on his experience with the company during other strikes.

Cruice said the hospital could have chosen to scale back and direct patients to the other Delaware County hospitals in the Crozer-Keystone system instead.

"[The union is] complaining about costs and us wasting money, but they are the ones who are causing us to do it," Gegwich said.

In May, Moody's Investor Service downgraded Crozer's debt, in part because of its underfunded pension plan, saying its $219 million liability was "outsized relative to system resources."

Gegwich said the hospital system "lost $32 million in operations" in the fiscal year that ended in June. Most losses occurred in the first three quarters and slowed in the final quarter.

Cruice said admissions were rising and Crozer-Chester Medical Center itself had a thin but positive margin when other revenue, including investment returns, were considered.

215-854-2769 @JaneVonBergen

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