***PRESS ADVISORY***
For event at 1PM on Tuesday 5/16/23

Suspension of 9 Nurses for Union Activity at NJ’s Clara Maass Hospital Sparks Uproar Amid Nursing Shortage; Hundreds to Picket on Tuesday

• Nine nurses spent National Nurses Week on suspension after being unlawfully disciplined for union activity. 1199SEIU has filed federal unfair labor practice (ULP) charges against the employer.

• Nurses say that the suspensions of their colleagues with a combined 100+ years of service was a dangerous stunt amid the acute nursing shortage at the hospital.

• Clara Maass nurses voted overwhelmingly to picket on May 16 after months of contract negotiations and the mistreatment of union members who stood up against unfair discipline.

• Rep. Mikie Sherrill and Rep. Donald Payne, Jr. have sent letters to the CEO of Clara Maass, calling for the hospital to negotiate in good faith. (njnursesunited.org/sherrillletter, njnursesunited.org/dpjletter)

WHEN: 1PM, Tuesday, May 16, 2023.

WHERE: Clara Maass Hospital, 1 Clara Maass Dr, Belleville, NJ 07109

WHO: Hundreds of RNs, members of 1199SEIU, and community supporters.

WHY: Last August, some 540 registered nurses (RNs) at RWJ-Barnabas’ Clara Maass Hospital in Belleville, NJ voted to form a union with 1199SEIU. Talks at the bargaining table have stalled, with management refusing to address staffing concerns and serious disparities in compensation between Clara Maass RNs and other nurses working in tri-state area hospitals.

At the same time, management has engaged in a hostile campaign of intimidation against nurses, suspending nine nurses for attempting to deliver a petition on April 26 that had been signed by over 170 nurses, doctors, and other caregivers at the facility.

The petition was in support of a fellow nurse with 25 years of experience who was suspended without just cause for an incident prompted by the acute staffing shortage at the hospital, despite the nurse following all hospital procedures and acting to protect the safety of her patient and herself. (A copy of the petition can be seen here, with names redacted for privacy: http://www.njnursesunited.org/petition)

The suspended nurses have over 100 years of combined service at the hospital, and their suspensions have raised concerns about a staffing crisis initiated by management’s illegal actions. New Jersey is already facing a severe and growing nursing shortage, and RNs at Clara Maass say the hospital is hemorrhaging staff as experienced RNs retire or leave for better opportunities.

Earlier this year, tens of thousands of RNs just miles away in New York City—members of 1199SEIU and NYSNA—won collective bargaining agreements that provide annual wage increases of 7%, 6%, and 5% while maintaining far superior benefits. This has increased the already significant disparities between RN jobs in NJ and NY and created further urgency to close this gap to retain the pool of nurses working in the Garden State.

At the bargaining table, nurses are calling for improvements in pay, benefits, and working conditions, more training and educational resources for precepting others, and to create a labor-management committee to discuss staffing policies and procedures. Management is insisting that RNs should not have a seat at the table in determining staffing guidelines, despite the crucial frontline professional experience that RNs have in managing patient care.

Audrey Chio, RN, Clara Maass Medical Center:
“Management refuses to compensate our most senior nurses according to their expertise, so we struggle to retain experienced nurses. The new nurses who come to train leave quickly because they are so underpaid and are placed in conditions that endanger their licenses. We are asking for fair compensation and our long overdue raises to stop losing qualified RNs and improve patient care, but management keeps saying no.”

Tanya Howard, RN, ICU, Clara Maass Medical Center:
“I was questioned by management as if I committed a crime, after helping to deliver our petition peacefully. After 23 years at this hospital, that hurt me deeply. But it’s outrageous that management suspended us, for speaking up for each other, in the middle of a chronic nurse shortage. That left RNs on the floor even more overworked and unsafe, putting patients’ lives at risk. Since many of the suspended nurses are strong leaders in our union, we feel targeted.”

Joan Perro, RN, Women’s Health Clinic, Clara Maass Medical Center:
“Doing ancillary work has become the norm for us nurses. On a regular basis, we are nurse, tech, dietary, pharmacy, everything. We can’t function without the ancillary staff who keep our hospital running alongside us. In our first contract, we are asking for our job duties to be defined to promote safer staffing and better patient care. Management won’t agree to that basic professional standard, so qualified RNs will keep leaving and patients will suffer.”

Assemblywoman Britnee N. Timberlake, 34th District:
“It would be an abomination for me as a New Jersey resident and elected official from the 34th district not to support our talented and dedicated nurses at Clara Maass Hospital. The work they do as they care for their patients is life changing and lifesaving. I am asking, imploring, and hoping that management will come to the bargaining table in good faith. I stand in solidarity with the nurses.”

Rhina Molina, Executive Vice President of 1199SEIU:
“It’s ironic that a hospital named after a nurse heroine, Clara Maass, who gave her life for the advancement of medical research, would treat their own nursing staff in such a deplorable manner. We demand that management respect their nurses and to agree to a fair contract that RNs need to protect the standards of their profession and safeguard patient care.”

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1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East is the largest and fastest-growing healthcare union in New Jersey and nationwide. We represent over 16,000 healthcare families in New Jersey and over 450,000 total members throughout New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Maryland, Florida, and Washington, D.C.   Our mission is to achieve quality care and good jobs for all.