Creditors and HMHA Still Negotiating; Nurses Union Files Objection

No deal was reached yet in the crucial sale of the Hoboken University Medical Center, but a new bankruptcy settlement was on the table and the nurses' union has filed objections as of Wednesday afternoon.

A creditors committee has been locked in bankruptcy negotiations, unable to come to an agreement. Meanwhile, Mayor Dawn Zimmer has said that if the new—and final—proposal, which guarantees a minimum of $10.2 million to the creditors isn't accepted, the hospital will have to close by the end of this week.

LLC, the primary owners of Bayonne Medical Center, hinges on a bankruptcy agreement. If the hospital is forced to close, more than 1,100 jobs will be lost.

A hearing was scheduled in bankruptcy court for Thursday afternoon, but can only go through if the settlement agreement is accepted, Zimmer said.

"HUMC has been running on fumes to reach this point, and cannot survive further delays," Zimmer said. "If the Settlement Agreement and Hospital sale are not approved at tomorrow’s hearing, the Hospital Authority will be compelled to take immediate steps to close the Hospital to ensure the safety of its patients."

Meanwhile, JNESO—the nurses union—filed objections, according to court documents. The union, headed by Virginia Treacy, is one of the seven members of the creditors committee that is supposed to come to a bankruptcy agreement.

"JNESO’s objections include the allegation the Municipal Hospital Authority withheld funds from Hudson Health and its vendors in order to push Hudson into bankruptcy," Treacy said in a statement on Wednesday. "It is true that the hospital, like all other urban hospitals in New Jersey, has struggled financially. We believe that there has been a concerted campaign to hold the community, the vendors and the employees hostage to the sale which has been surrounded by misinformation and secrecy."

Recently, to go toward a settlement, after the city council failed to pass a bond ordinance of that amount. If there is no agreement reached, however, the governor will not infuse that money in the deal, Zimmer said.

"The Settlement Agreement offers unsecured creditors far more than would be otherwise available, while saving HUMC and relieving Hoboken’s taxpayers of a burdensome $52 million bond guaranty," Zimmer said on Wednesday.

Although other bidders have made their interest in , Zimmer mainteined that Holdco was the only bidder that could relieve the city of its debt and keep the hospital open as an acute care facility for at least seven years, calling it "the only acceptable alternative for all of the parties involved."