Nurses were fiercely committed to winning a strong contract because they were struggling with growing problems at Geisinger Wyoming Valley that included 300 unfilled nursing positions due to uncompetitive wages and insufficient benefits. In an attempt to fill these staffing shortfalls, Geisinger resorted to an over-reliance on out-of-town travel nurses and the abuse of on-call shifts. Those problems were causing turnover and burnout and making it difficult to provide the standard of care their community deserves, nurses say. Their contract had expired on January 31, and nurses held a five-day strike starting February 17, which garnered widespread press coverage, community support and social media attention, including from U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders.
During the last day of the strike on February 22, the tragic shooting took place at UMPC Memorial Hospital, in which a police officer was killed, and two officers, a doctor, a nurse and a custodian were shot, which added urgency to the nurses’ advocacy. When nurses returned to the negotiating table, they strongly asserted with executives that safe staffing and security measures were critical to protecting patients, visitors and staff. Still, executives continued to drag their feet and so nurses then authorized another strike in early March, which pushed Geisinger-Risant toward negotiating the settlement. Nurses voted overwhelmingly to ratify the contract on April 11.
“This was my first time on our union contract negotiating committee, and the experience taught me that nurses have to stand up for what’s right – we can’t be afraid to speak up for our patients,” said Jimmy Romanelli, a registered nurse who has a decade of service to Geisigner. “Back during the pandemic, Geisinger executives put up signs that loudly proclaimed us heroes. But Covid exposed and aggravated deep systemic problems in our healthcare system that were never addressed, especially understaffing, turnover and burnout. This contract victory is a huge leap forward in finally reckoning with this crisis. The wage increases, mandatory rest period for on-call, voice in our healthcare plan, increased security and other gains will help make nursing at Geisinger a sustainable career moving forward. I get very emotional when I think about the outpouring of community support we received. This proves that when nurses and regular people stand up to corporate executives, we can hold them accountable.”
