NJ Lawmakers Back Nurses In Labor Battle At Clara Maass Hospital

BELLEVILLE, NJ — Several high-profile elected officials are calling for New Jersey’s largest health care provider to reach a “fair agreement” with hundreds of frustrated nurses at Clara Maass Medical Center in Belleville.

In the summer of 2022, more than 500 registered nurses at the hospital voted to form a union with 1199SEIU. Spokespeople said that “safe staffing,” job security, pay and benefits at the RWJBarnabas Health-affiliated facility were among the most important issues.

The newly unionized health care workers have been trying to land their first work contract ever since, but talks with hospital administrators have been hitting a brick wall – with each side blaming the other for the stalemate (learn more about their positions below).

Over the past year, the nurses and their supporters have launched repeated rallies outside the hospital in an attempt to raise awareness about their campaign.

• Read More: Labor Strife Flares Up Again At Clara Maass Hospital
• Read More: Tensions Rise At Clara Maass Hospital As Nurses Rally For Contracts
• Read More: Picket Line, 'Thank You Parade' At Belleville Hospital On Nurses Week

This week, the nurses got messages of encouragement from three U.S. Congress members and a state lawmaker who represents the area: U.S. Reps. Andy Kim, Mikie Sherrill and LaMonica McIver, and New Jersey Assemblywoman Carmen Theresa Morales.

Kim – who will soon take office as the state’s newest U.S. senator – said that as the son of a nurse himself, he has seen the work that they do for patients… and the toll it takes on their bodies and minds.

“Nurses are not asking for the moon,” Kim said, taking part in a virtual press conference with the union earlier this week. “They are being asked to be treated with fairness and to be treated with respect.”

“These heroes served on the frontline of the COVID-19 pandemic and continue to keep our healthcare system running day in and day out, and they deserve a fair contract that provides strong staffing levels, good wages, and protections from unfair labor practices,” said Sherrill, who is running for governor in 2025.

“At a time when our medical centers are facing staffing shortages across the state, I strongly urge 1199SEIU and RWJBarnabas Health to reach a contract agreement that works for our nurses, patients, and businesses as quickly as possible,” Sherrill said.

According to McIver, it’s “time for all parties to come to the bargaining table” and make sure that the nurses get a “fair agreement without any more delay.”

“Ensuring that the nurses who sacrifice for our community have the support they need to do their jobs well is what’s best for workers, patients and our health system as a whole,” the recently elected congresswoman said.

“As someone who calls Belleville home, I know Clara Maass is more than just a hospital; it’s a lifeline for our residents in Belleville, Newark, Bloomfield and beyond,” Morales said. “That’s why I’m calling on RWJBarnabas and Clara Maass Medical Center to come together to reach a fair agreement.”

“Now is the time to come together — not to point fingers, but to find solutions,” the state lawmaker added.

Hospital administrators have fought back against the allegations that they’ve been dragging their feet during negotiations, however. And the nurses have already been offered a fair deal, they counter. Read More: Clara Maass Offered Nurses Pay Raises Last October, Administrators Say

“Clara Maass Medical Center remains committed to negotiating in good faith with the goal of reaching a fair and equitable resolution that supports both our nurses and patients,” hospital spokesperson Cristina Allen told Patch on Thursday.

“CMMC has already agreed to and paid salary increases in excess of 17.3 percent to its nurses and to 26 articles for a new collective bargaining agreement,” Allen said. “We are confident that, when all the facts are heard, Clara Maass Medical Center will be vindicated of these baseless claims and shown to have prioritized patient care and safety while bargaining in good faith.”

NURSES: ‘HEALTH CARE HEROES DESERVE BETTER’

Elizabeth Mendez-Corbin, a registered nurse at Clara Maass, has been in the profession for 38 years, working through the coronavirus pandemic that taxed so many of her peers to their limits.

“Although we go above and beyond the call of duty, it doesn’t reflect in how we are treated by management or how we are paid,” Mendez-Corbin said. “As a result, nurse retention is very poor. We are demanding that management respect our rights and bargain in good faith.”

The union has lodged a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), alleging that hospital administrators have insisted on retaining total control over virtually every significant aspect of the employment relationship since contract negotiations began. That includes the ability to subcontract nursing duties, change nurses’ wages, hours and health/retirement benefits, and eliminate paid time off, the union claims.

The NLRB complaint also alleges that Clara Maass unlawfully fired a nurse and disciplined others for supporting the union – accusations that hospital administrators deny (see below).

“Management went from putting up banners at the hospital thanking their nurses for being ‘health care heroes’ during the pandemic, to launching a hostile anti-union campaign once nurses decided to organize,” 1199SEIU stated.

“Despite agreeing to clear, enforceable staffing guidelines in nurse contracts at other RWJBH-affiliated hospitals, management is refusing the same for Clara nurses,” the union says. “And Clara nurses are also being denied a 3.5% annual wage increase that other workers at the hospital received, and that nurses received at other RWJBH hospitals.”

“We went from being ‘health care heroes,’ who battled on the front-lines of the worst health crisis in a century, to being targeted by management, disciplined, and even fired for standing up for our rights,” alleged Tanya Howard, a registered nurse at the hospital.

• See Related: Clara Maass Nurses Will Get Raises; Contract Negotiations Continue

CLARA MAASS: ‘GOOD FAITH NEGOTIATIONS’

Hospital administrators haven’t taken the unions’ accusations lying down, countering that they have indeed been negotiating in good faith – and continue to do so.

According to Clara Maass spokespeople, the union campaigning that has been taking place at the hospital is not a protected activity under law – it’s a “complete disregard” for patients:

“SEIU is contending that a group of nurses should be permitted to march into a patient-occupied intensive care unit, led by a professional union representative, to intimidate a supervisor and object to discipline issued to a nurse who engaged in serious, inappropriate conduct in violation of all hospital patient safety protocols and industry standards. SEIU also insists that nurses be permitted to walk into patient rooms displaying a button reading in bold letters ‘STRIKE’ without any regard to the adverse impact on patients or the healing environment necessary in a hospital setting.”

In June, Clara Maass president and CEO Mary Ellen Clyne penned a message to the community that gave an update on the dispute from the hospital’s perspective – including a timeline of events since August 2022 (read the full letter here).

“Clara Maass Medical Center has attempted to negotiate with 1199SEIU in good faith for almost two years,” Clyne wrote. “We have held more than 30 negotiation sessions and the parties have agreed to more than 20 economic and non-economic articles for a new contract.”

“We respect the rights of our nurses to organize and express their concerns, including through peaceful picketing,” Clyne continued. “We have approached these negotiations in good faith, as we always do.”

Clyne shared the following details about negotiations in her June 17 letter:

Annual Market Wage Review/Increase – “At Clara Maass, we conduct an annual market wage review to ensure that we fairly compensate our nurses. This practice ensures their salaries remain competitive and reflect their skills, experience, and the local job market. When other registered nurses in our system received market wage adjustment increases in 2022, 1199SEIU would not agree to these wage increases for our nurses at Clara Maass until September 2023. Our full-time nurses rightfully deserved these increases but lost on average approximately $7,000 because of 1199SEIU’s delay in agreeing to this. Only through the medical center’s persistence in negotiations have we been able to realize any progress for our nurses – including an average 12.3% increase of nurses’ salaries during the past year along with significant increases in shift, preceptor and charge differentials.”

Employee Benefits – “Despite what you may have seen in 1199SEIU materials or in recent media reports, Clara Maass Medical Center has not proposed any reductions in employee benefits, paid time off, or other concessions since collective bargaining began in 2022. CMMC has proposed the continuation of the same policies providing health, retirement and paid time off that have been in existence for years at CMMC.”

“As we continue to work towards a first contract with our nurses, please know that the ongoing negotiations have not, nor will we allow it to affect our ability to deliver the highest quality patient care to our community – our number one priority at Clara Maass,” Clyne said.

“Our doors remain open, and our nurses remain dedicated to our patients,” Clyne concluded.

UNION DISSENT

While many nurses at Clara Maass continue to support the union, others have questioned whether it is acting in their best interest.

In October, some nurses at the hospital filed a petition to remove United Healthcare Workers East (1199SEIU) as their representative. That petition has been held up after the NLRB took action to block a potential vote at the request of the union.

“My fellow nurses and I are not pleased with the performance of 1199SEIU union officials and simply want to exercise our right to vote out this union,” said registered nurse Nancy Bombaro, who filed the decertification petition with legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation.

The foundation’s involvement drew a sharp rebuke from 1199SEIU, which called the organization a “billionaire and corporate-sponsored organization whose mission is to weaken labor laws.”

“This month, the group provided the lawyers to try to remove our union through a decertification process,” the union criticized. “But, because Clara Maass has so many pending charges against it for its unlawful anti-union activity, the NLRB has postponed this indefinitely.”

“Recently, the National Right to Work Foundation tried and failed to do the same with Starbucks workers who are organizing nationwide,” the union added.

Clara Maass administrators say the dissenting nurses’ demand for a vote should be heard out, however.

“Clara Maass Medical Center was notified last month by the National Labor Relations Board that it decided – at SEIU’s request – to block a vote by its nurses to determine whether they still want to be represented by SEIU. Although this is a matter between the nurses and SEIU, we believe every nurse should have the right to expeditiously vote as to whether they are represented by a union or not,” hospital spokespeople said.

And the NLRB complaint? It’s bunk, hospital administrators told Patch:

“The frivolous charges filed by SEIU are without merit and being used by the union to deny nurses their right to vote. For 17 months, these unfounded claims sat with the NLRB without any action until the nurses at Clara Maass Medical Center filed a petition to decertify SEIU as their union, which is their right.”

OTHER NURSING LABOR DISPUTES IN NJ

Clara Maass/RWJBarnabas Health isn’t the only hospital in New Jersey that has recently gone through a prolonged labor dispute with its nurses.

Last year, 1,700 nurses at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick went on strike, demanding pay raises, a cap on health insurance costs and for the hospital to hire more nurses. The work stoppage lasted for five months – making it the longest nursing strike in New Jersey history.

• See Related: After 5 Months, RWJUH Nurses' Strike Is Officially Over

In October, nurses at University Hospital in Newark voted to approve a new work contract after threatening to strike. One of the biggest sticking points included a demand that other health care workers in New Jersey have been making: assigning less patients per nurse.

According to the Health Professionals and Allied Employees (HPAE) Local 5089, some major gains have been made on that front at University Hospital, which is owned by the state of New Jersey and is the state’s only public hospital.

• See Related: More Nurses Per Patient: Deal Reached At University Hospital In Newark

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