Let’s resolve our differences at the bargaining table now
Washington Hospital has a long and proud tradition of staffing our facility with organized labor. The Hospital is home to six bargaining units. Negotiating fair and equitable labor agreements with each union at Washington Hospital is guided by the Washington Township Health Care District compensation policy of tandem and parity. Simply put, the policy dictates that our employees are to be competitively paid.
The Hospital has been in labor negotiations with the California Nurses Association (CNA), the union that represents nurses who provide care at our Hospital, since July 2015. After negotiations commenced, the Hospital’s bargaining team offered numerous dates per month to CNA for negotiations, but the union often chose to bargain only one day a month. In fact, Washington Hospital did not receive the first wage proposal from CNA until Feb 2016, seven months after bargaining began. Several of the bargaining sessions held have lasted 90 minutes or less. It’s tough to make meaningful progress when the union chooses to infrequently meet and then when we sit down to negotiate, bargaining is brief at best. We urge CNA members to talk to their leadership and ask them why they are not wanting to have more frequent bargaining sessions so that we can swiftly reach an agreement which would provide retroactivity and significantly increased wages for Washington Hospital nurses.
Although there has been a lack of commitment by CNA to spend time negotiating at the bargaining table, the union has informed the Hospital of its intent to hold an informational picket on May 12. While the Hospital’s bargaining team was surprised by this move, we will continue to provide dates and encourage the membership of CNA to urge its leaders to meet with the Hospital as soon as possible in an effort to reach an agreement.
It’s the bargaining team’s belief that the time and energy spent on the theatrics of informational picketing would be better spent at the bargaining table. Our nurses have waited long enough for their wage adjustments so that they can be competitively paid. The Hospital’s bargaining team stands ready to negotiate at any time and for as long as is needed to reach a fair agreement. We are committed to ensuring that our nurses have a fair contract that promotes a work environment where we can recruit and retain talented nurses.