The action followed on the heels of a January 30-31 strike that had involved more than 400 nurses. Ninety-seven percent of members of the union voted for the stoppage. The nurses are organized by the Wyoming Valley Nurses Association, the local affiliate of the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals.

The administration kept the hospital running by enlisting a Denver firm that specializes in strike-breaking operations. It has now locked the nurses out. The 200 replacement nurses will work for at least another eight days, said William Host, president of Wyoming Valley Health Care System, the company that owns the hospital.

The workers have established a picket line. About 25 registered nurses have crossed it.

Several nurses spoke at the rally. "We demand they hire more nurses and other staff to care for the patients," said Brenda Philips, an emergency room nurse who has worked at the hospital since 1971. "The patients deserve it, and I will fight for it."

Since 2000 some 400 nurses have been laid off. Nurses told Militant reporters that on some floors one worker will have to care for as many as 10 patients. Because of short-staffing, said Rose Papi, "some patients don’t see a nurse for hours."

Papi added, "We knew when we went into the profession that we would work holidays and weekends, but we were not told we would be understaffed and overworked."

Overtime is a key issue in the dispute. Nurses can end up working up to 16 hours straight. Host claims that only 1 percent of this overtime is mandatory. Papi and others pointed out, however, that nurses often volunteer to work extra hours to cover for a coworker who is pressed to work over but has other obligations.

Nurses have also demanded a wage increase to bring them up to parity with workers at Mercy Hospital, also in Wilkes-Barre, improved pensions, and a closed union shop. Sick leave is also an issue, since they are not paid for the final six of their 12 sick days a year.  
 
Support from other hospital staff
Following their rally, the nurses marched to the hospital. Many brought their families along. Some doctors, emergency medical workers, and other hospital staff also joined in. Most cars that passed blared their horns in support.

Members of nearly 30 other unions were present. Speakers included nurses union presidents from three area hospitals, the firefighters union president, and several Pennsylvania state representatives.

Bob Smith, a local branch president of the National Postal Mailhandlers Union, came with others from his local. "I support the nurses’ demand for adequate staffing and an end to forced overtime 100 percent," he said. "There’s no way they can take care of patients properly if they’re forced to work so many hours."

Hospital officials are using private security firms as well as relying on the police to try to intimidate nurses and cut across the widespread support for their fight. Two days before the strike, three union members were removed from the lobby by cops and security as they handed out union literature.

"They told us to leave now or be terminated," said Sandra Solovey, local union president. The administration has since posted police and security officers inside the lobby and has hired a security agency that films workers on the picket line.

Summing up the nurses’ stance, Solovey told the rally, "We are not going back in there without safe staffing, language on limited mandatory overtime, and a closed shop."  
 
 
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