Unionized nurses at Geisinger facilities in Luzerne County have voted to send a strike notice to the health system "if necessary."
No strike date was set, but the current contract expires Jan. 31.
Thursday's move comes as 800 registered nurses at Geisinger have been bargaining with management since November. The nurses are represented by Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Healthcare PA.
“We’re committed to bringing the best possible care to our community. We don’t want to strike, but we need management to work with us to provide that level of quality care," said Lynn Fino, a registered nurse in the Urgent Care at Geisinger South Wilkes-Barre.
"We’re united to achieve significant across-the-board pay increases to retain and recruit RNs, the best healthcare benefits in the region, new safety initiatives to keep our patients, families, and workforce safe, and initiatives and additional compensation to help address staffing challenges in all departments including procedural areas,” Fino added.
Geisinger issued a response Friday saying the system "values the critical contributions of our registered nurses in the delivery of care at Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center."
"We appreciate the expertise and compassion with which they care for our community and respect their rights as SEIU members. We are committed to ongoing good-faith bargaining to reach a mutually agreeable labor contract," the statement added.
Nurses: No sense of urgency from Geisinger
Demands made by the nurses "have not been met with a sense of urgency that nurses feel is adequate to solve workplace challenges," SEIU said in a statement released Friday.
Among the challenges, according to the union, are "a nurse shortage of 300 positions fueled by lack of competitive wages, exorbitant healthcare costs and rising violence in the workplace."
"Compared to other area hospitals, GWV has not kept up with its reputation as a leader in RN professional standards and has fallen behind on matching the rate of pay that other area hospitals offer," the statement added.
“We cannot continue to perform ‘business as usual’ under these circumstances. Our goal is to reach a fair agreement that continues to solidify GWV as a leader in healthcare standards in the NEPA valley.” said Eileen Bray, a registered nurse at Geisinger.
Bargaining is expected to resume Monday, and multiple bargaining sessions are scheduled for next week, SEIU said.
Previous labor action
In a separate case SEIU last spring agreed to a three-year labor agreement with Geisinger, averting a strike by unionized licensed professional nurses and technical employees at three facilities in Luzerne County.
The contract accepted by 340 LPNs and radiology, procedural, therapy and respiratory employees includes average pay increases of 17.5% over three years, with no regular employees receiving less than 12.5%, and some techs seeing raises as high as 44.5%, SEIU officials said at the time.
In that case, the employees had negotiated with Geisinger since voting to join SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania last June.
"Union nurses at GWV believe that Geisinger can do better. Last year, GWV was acquired by Kaiser Permanente as part of Risant, and was promised a $5 billion investment into Geisinger," SEIU's statement about the nurses' negotiations said.
The labor actions come as Geisinger is in the midst of two substantial expansion projects in the region.
Last spring the system broke ground on a nearly $900 million expansion that will nearly double the size of Geisinger Wyoming Medical Center in Plains Township by the end of 2028.
In July, Geisinger announced a similar $880 million expansion of Geisinger Medical Center in Danville.
“We’re the front lines of healthcare. We’re the difference between life and death for thousands of patients every year. We know that our patients deserve the best possible outcomes, and for that to happen, Geisinger needs to invest in us right now,” said Jimmy Romanelli, an RN who works at Geisinger’s Hematology Oncology Department.
Geisinger's response pointed out that while the system is "a member of Risant Health, Geisinger operates independently, and these negotiations are exclusively between Geisinger and the SEIU."
