Lower Bucks Hospital Nurses Consider Christmas Strike

BRISTOL TOWNSHIP, PA —Nurses at Lower Bucks Hospital are threatening to strike over the Christmas holiday but officials said that patient care will not be in jeopardy.

More than 130 hospital nurses took a strike vote on Dec. 12, approving a potential five-day strike to start Dec. 22 and run through the Christmas holiday until Dec. 26, according to reports.

"It is disappointing that despite progress being made, the union has walked away from negotiations and has chosen to strike, but that will not impact our commitment to providing quality patient care to our communities throughout the holidays and always," said Michelle Aliprantis, the hospital's regional director of marketing and communications.

She said that Prime Healthcare continues to "bargain in good faith" with Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses & Allied Professionals (PASNAP) union leadership "with the goal of reaching an agreement in the best interests of the hospitals, its employees, and most importantly, those who we serve."

The Bucks County Courier Times reported that among the critical issues the nurses want resolved are staffing shortages creating "unsafe conditions," as well as better medical benefits for their own and their families' healthcare; wage increases; and retention of registered nurses whom, they say, Prime would like to replace with less-qualified staff.

The nurses have been working without a contract since their previous three-year contract ended Oct. 12., the newspaper said.

Prime Healthcare operates 45 hospitals and 300 outpatient facilities in 14 states with nearly 50,000 employees.

Aliprantis said that proposals have been delivered to the union from the hospitals that would increase wages and "provide a valuable healthcare plan, maintain important benefits, and be competitive with other hospitals in the market."

She did not say how the hospital would deal with patient care or if patients would be sent to other hospitals for care if there is a strike.

In late October, nurses picketed the hospital to protest the staff shortages.

Aliprantis said the hospital has been negotiating with PASNAP since early September for a new collective bargaining agreement.