Steely Nurses Stand Defiant Against Millionaire Hospital Bosses
“We encourage management to come back to the table with an offer that reflects our dedication and prioritizes safety and health.” — Judy Danella, president, Local 4-200. Photo by Bob Hennelly
By Bob Hennelly
Striking nurses at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, New Jersey have voted overwhelmingly to continue their job action even after the self-insured nonprofit hospital chain cut off their healthcare.
United Steelworkers Nurses Local 4-200 have been striking for safe staffing since Aug. 4. Of the nearly 1,700-member bargaining unit, 1,258 cast ballots with 1,117 voting to stay out on strike. According to Judy Danella, president of Local 4-200, the second-strike authorization vote was in response to the hospital’s position articulated at a Sept. 14 negotiating session with the federal mediator assigned to the labor dispute.
Charles Wowkanech, president of the New Jersey AFL-CIO said the lopsided vote was evidence that the nurses were “very, very committed to safe staffing and we are committed to supporting them in this effort.”
Wowkanech continued, “These nurses came to work every day in the early days of COVID when people were really frightened and scared, and they did not know how to control this thing. New York and New Jersey led the nation in fatalities and sickness, but yet these nurses showed up every day, not only putting their personal safety at risk, but their families. It’s just a shame the hospital can’t come to the table and work something out.”
MUDDY WATERS
On the morning of the negotiating session last week, before the parities convened, management sent out a scathing “Point by Point Response to Recent Steel Worker Union Leadership Statements” which accused the union of not keeping members informed on multiple issues including how “the hospital pleaded with them to delay the strike so we could continue to negotiate.”
“Basically, they told us in no uncertain terms the union is lying,” Danella countered at a well-attended rally before the negotiation session. “What they said to you is that everything the union has told you is a lie. I am here to tell you I have never been a liar, nor do I intend to start being a liar. I was not placed in this position; I was elected by the members to this position. I have never lied to them, nor will I ever lie to them.”
In the latest strike vote nurses were given three options, take the hospital’s final offer, submit to arbitration, or continue their work stoppage which was the subject of a Sept. 13 virtual townhall hosted by U.S. Senators Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Cory Booker (D-NJ).
“Short staffing remains our number one priority, and our members clearly don’t believe this contract went far enough in this area,” Danella said after the latest vote. “We need better staffing so that we can keep workers safe on the job and continue providing top-quality care for our patients. We encourage management to come back to the table with an offer that reflects our dedication and prioritizes safety and health.”
MULTI-BILLION DOLLAR NONPROFIT
The RWJ Barnabas system is a not-for-profit healthcare giant with a dozen acute care hospitals and a partnership with Rutgers University. The system has 38,000 employees and $6.6 billion in revenue. It relies on hundreds of millions of dollars in tax-exempt state issued bonds for capital construction.
The system’s recently-retired CEO and President Barry Ostrowsky earned $16 million in the second year of the pandemic, making him the highest paid hospital executive in the New York area, according to Crain’s New York .
RWJ Barnabas' latest available 990 IRS form shows that from fiscal year 2020, more than a dozen other top executives listed were in the $1 million or more income club.
The hospital system's filing includes links to dozens of "related organizations taxable as partnerships," identified with nondescript names like Medmerge LLC or Jersey ASC Ventures LLC. There's a C-corporation called Major Investigations Inc., which is listed as "security" at the same address in West Orange, New Jersey, as the RWJ Barnabas Health Foundation.
Under Schedule F in the RWJ Barnabas IRS filings, which catalogues its financial "activities outside the United States," listed are "program services" in Central America and the Caribbean described as a "financial vehicle" worth $41.2 million.
The renewed push for the staffing requirements comes as a national survey predicted New Jersey would be shy 11,400 nurses by 2030, ranking it in the top-ten states with a severe shortfall. Also, into that crisis, mix Connecticut (27,926), New York (18,784), and Pennsylvania (16,430).
Throughout the prolonged strike, Local 4-200 has pointed to California’s enactment in 2004 of safe staffing nursing to patient ratio as a model to emulate. Legislation that would establish similar standards is currently pending in Trenton.
In the years since California’s initiative, peer reviewed studies documented it saw greatly improved patient outcomes, workplace safety, better infection control, as well as nurse retention.
In a landmark study, six years after California enacted the measure, Dr. Linda Aiken with the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing found the mandatory staffing ratios had significantly improved patient outcomes and to promote nurse retention. The analysis used data from California, Pennsylvania and New Jersey where there were no such nursing standards.
“California hospital nurses cared for one less patient on average than nurses in the other states and two fewer patients in medical and surgical units,” according to the study. “Lower ratios are associated with significantly lower mortality. When nurses’ workloads were in line with California-mandated ratios in all three states, nurses’ burnout and job dissatisfaction were lower, and nurses reported consistently better quality of care.”
During the Sept. 13 virtual town in support of Nurses Local 4-200, Senator Sanders, who chairs the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions raised the possibility of holding field hearings in New Brunswick.
‘A CONSEQUENTIAL STRIKE’
“I think we all owe nurses an incredible debt of gratitude for what they did during COVID,” Senator Sanders said. “Many of these nurses were on the job without anywhere near the personal protection equipment needed. Many, many hundreds of nurses died essentially putting their lives on the line for us. Others became seriously ill.”
The Guardian newspapers and Kaiser Health News reported that 3,600 hospital workers died in the first year of the pandemic due to their occupational exposure. Seven hundred of them were from New York and New Jersey. Two-thirds of them were people of color.
“Right now,” Senator Sanders continued, “what I want everybody to know is there is a very important consequential strike taking place in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and that strike is with a United Steelworkers Local and what they are doing is not only fighting for better wages — better healthcare for themselves — but their major demand is for better nurse patient ratios. This is an issue that we don’t hear a whole lot about.”
The Vermont representative and former presidential candidate further stated, “And as we see the corporatization of medicine in America, these big, huge hospitals look at the bottom line. What they are doing is squeezing their staff, especially the nursing staff — demanding that their nurses do more than we should be doing — and the result is that patient outcomes are suffering.”
“During the pandemic,” Senator Booker said, “I saw people laud them [nurses] for their heroism, but yet we did not do what we should be doing in standing up with them to make sure that they are getting the pay that they deserve. The healthcare benefits they deserve and issues like the staffing ratios are really critical. So many of our nurses that went through COVID dealt with trauma, stress, strain, and the challenges within their jobs. This is a significant moment for our state [of New Jersey], but also for the nation. This has implications for the whole country. This is not just a local strike.”
Hospital GETS INJUNCTION
On Sept. 18, the hospital got a court injunction significantly limiting the union’s picketing activity outside of the hospital in downtown New Brunswick. Danella said the union was reviewing it. Last week, video surfaced on social media of private security working for the hospital pushing picketers that were walking in front of the hospital’s parking garage.
“We are deeply disappointed that United Steel Workers 4-200, the union representing our nurses, voted today to prolong their strike indefinitely,” Wendy Gottsegen, a Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital spokesperson, said in a statement. “RWJUH provided the union with two, separate options for ending the strike — either accepting the hospital’s offer from Aug. 2 that would have ensured the state’s highest staffing standards and nurse compensation or agreeing to enter binding arbitration. The union rejected both.”
As in previous statements, the hospital disparaged the union and accused its members that were on the picket line of “obstructive behaviors designed to disrupt care” and of “increasingly aggressive and dangerous activities.”
“It is clear by today’s action that the union does not share in our commitment to reaching a resolution that ends this strike immediately and prioritizing the wellbeing and livelihood of their nurses and families…. RWJUH did everything it could to avoid a strike and urges the union to work with us to reach a resolution. This strike cannot go on forever.”
Unions across the region expressed support and admiration for the striking USW Local 4-200 nurses.
“It’s time to stop the corporate greed,” said Nancy Hagans, RN, and president of the New York State Nurses Association [NYSNA]. “They are bullies and the nurses were the heroes and today they are treating them like zeroes — it’s terrible. We stand up with them in solidarity. Shame on Robert Wood Johnson.”
“CWA is proud to stand side by side with the USW nurses as they bravely voted to stay on strike at RWJ Barnabas and continue to fight for the safety of patients and a fair contract,” wrote Fran Ehret, executive director of CWA NJ, which represents tens of thousands of public sector workers. “Their fight is our fight. Working class people everywhere should be inspired by the courage of these workers and others like those at Rutgers, UAW, and UPS. There is real value in forming and joining a union.”
“1199SEIU members stand firmly with the courageous nurses of USW 4-200, who voted by a 9-to-1 margin to continue their strike at RWJ University Hospital,” 1199 SEIU Executive Vice President Rhina Molina said in a statement. “The work nurses do across New Jersey is noble and essential, but can be overwhelming when they are not provided adequate resources and support.”
Moline continued, “We know that giving nurses a voice on important quality care concerns, including input on safe staffing, is essential to resolving labor strife at RWJBarnabas-affiliated institutions. The nurses’ struggle at University Hospital is also our struggle at Clara Maass Medical Center. 1199SEIU stands in solidarity with nurses across the state who are demanding decent jobs and quality care for our communities.”
32BJ SEIU Executive Vice President and NJ State Director Kevin Brown issued the following statement of solidarity with the more than 1,700 nurses for Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital who went on strike on Aug. 4.
“We stand in solidarity with all striking nurses at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital and we call on RWJ Barnabas Health to return to the bargaining table in good faith,” Brown in a statement. “RWJ Barnabas Health is a billion-dollar company that has more than enough money to hire enough nurses to prevent worker burnout. Our country faces a nationwide shortage of nurses and these vital workers deserve to be treated with respect.”
Brown continued, “The fact that these nurses have had to resort to a strike for nearly a month in order to win basic dignity on the job is a disgrace in itself. We call on hospital administrators to respectfully negotiate to achieve better working conditions for the nurses who need more support.”
"Nurses and healthcare workers know that patient safety and protections are a priority,” said Douglas Placa, executive director, JNESO District Council 1, IUOE AFL-CIO. “The Robert Wood Johnson nurses are fighting for just that, and a fair contract. We support them and know that they will fight until they have received what they believe is just."
BALLOT BOX STRATEGY
This November, all of New Jersey’s 120 Assembly and State Senate seats are on the ballot. HPAE, the state’s largest nurses’ union, is leading the effort to pass the safer staffing standards in Trenton, and has made candidate support for the measure a key perquisite for its endorsements that it announced Sept. 18.
“The long-standing problem of understaffing in healthcare facilities, coupled with the added trauma of the COVID-19 pandemic, have resulted in healthcare workers that are overworked, exhausted and exiting hospitals,” HPAE said in its press release. “The primary reason they are leaving our hospitals is unsafe staffing and it is critical that we ‘stop the bleed’.”
"Nurses are the most trusted professionals in the country and voters must heed these warnings," said HPAE President Debbie White, "Our healthcare system is in crisis. We are urging every voter to vote for those who support safe staffing. Healthcare workers can no longer work under these conditions. Patient care is at risk. Nurses are going on strike and holding rallies to sound the alarm. It is voters turn to take action. If you trust nurses, then take our recommendation into consideration before voting in this election.”