More than 200 nurses at Jefferson Bucks Hospital in Langhorne, Einstein Center One and Jefferson Health Willowcrest have petitioned the National Labor Relations Board to unionize, citing staff shortages and wanting more say in the care of patients.
“For over a year now, my colleagues and I have been trying to bring attention to the critical problems and challenges we’ve been seeing in our hospital,” ER nurse Ashley Bupp said. “Here at Jefferson Bucks, nurses are being asked to do more with less.
"Staffing has worsened, workloads have increased, and the turnover has reached a level we honestly haven’t seen in any of our departments before."
Bupp and a half-dozen other nurses gathered
near the hospital by the Sheraton Hotel in Falls for a press conference. Several security guards kept watch from a distance not far away.
“Good nurses are leaving because they’re frustrated, burnt out, tired of bringing concerns to administration and feeling like nothing really changes,” Bupp said.
As the nurses became more serious about unionizing, Bupp said, management began to “show up and pay attention. It shouldn’t take nurses organizing for (management) to start listening.”
Despite nurses leaving the job, Bupp and the others said the hospital has spent money on flashy ads trying to draw people to the hospital system, and has also spent money to hire union-busting consultants.
“[They want] to tell us why we shouldn’t come together and organize,” she said.
RN Maureen May, who is president of the Temple University Hospital Nurses Association, was critical of Jefferson’s management and leadership teams.
“Stop fighting your nurses!” she said, “Stop fighting the most trusted profession in this country. Stop fighting the most honest profession in this country — and the largest profession. Stop fighting the people who truly care.”
If successful, the nurses would join the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals (PASNAP), which represents more than 11,000 health care professionals across Pennsylvania. They would be among the nurses the union already represents at Lower Bucks Hospital in Bristol Township, and St. Mary Medical Center in Langhorne.
Nurses at Center One in Northeast Philadelphia, and the Willowcrest rehab facility at Einstein Hospital in North Philadelphia filed to join the union, too.
Nurses said executives at the facilities have cut costs while investing in expanding the hospital and “brand campaigns.”
“A lot of decisions seem to be made around cutting costs without thinking about what that means for the nurses on the floor, our patients, or the community we take care of,” Bupp said. “Instead of listening to us and fixing these issues, management is putting time and resources into trying to stop us from unionizing.”
In a press release, PASNAP said Jefferson Health previously spent more than $500,000 on Healthcare Labor Solutions during a 2021 organizing drive at Frankford Hospital and claim the system has retained the same firm again.
Nurses in favor of unionizing pointed to a recent win at Jefferson Einstein Hospital, where nearly 1,200 PASNAP members secured a contract that strengthened staffing language, protected pensions and limited forced shift rotations.
“We saw what a great contract they had already," Jefferson Bucks RN Kiersten McCalmant said. "… If nurses at Einstein can bargain with Jefferson and be successful, why can’t we?”
PASNAP President Maureen May said she's proud to support these nurses in their efforts.
“Don’t be afraid of your nurses organizing and having a voice. It’s good for nurses, good for patient care, and good for the hospital," May said.
JD Mullane can be reached at jmullane@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Nurses at Bucks County health care facility petitioning for union
