Fights Reported In Picket Line As RWJ Nurses Remain On Strike

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ — The unionized nurses at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick are still on strike, and no new talks are scheduled between the union and hospital management.

NJ101.5 reported Friday there have now been at least three altercations between the nurses and hospital security. One involved a security officer shoving a nurse in the picket line, said union leader Judy Danella.

Danella said last week there have also been instances of nurses on strike calling the replacement nurses "scabs."

"Yes, there were a couple incidents where security got involved ... The replacement nurses are scabs. That's what they are," she said. "But there was no aggression from the nurses in my eyes at all."

The nurses can also no longer use megaphones, drums, air horns or noisemakers, according to a consent order from Middlesex County Superior Court Judge Thomas McCloskey that both sides agreed to last week.

RWJ applied for the temporary restraining order against the nurses last week. The union agreed to follow the terms of a consent order in place of the temporary restraining order.

At hospital management's request, there are now limits on how many nurses can gather in the picket line. Nurses can now only gather in groups of 10, said Danella.

"I guess they didn't want as many nurses picketing," she said. "They said we were making too much noise and bothering the patients."

The striking nurses also cannot block hospital entrances or the entrances to the parking garage. They cannot yell insults at the temporary nurses or other hospital employees walking into the hospital.

“On behalf of our patients, visitors and staff, we are glad to share that United Steel Workers 4 200, the union representing our nurses, has agreed to a Consent Order that prohibits certain activities outside of our facilities that could inhibit access to care," said Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital spokeswoman Wendy Gottsegen.

“The order will help to prevent injury or worse during their current labor action," she continued. "It was entered by the Superior Court of New Jersey and provides guidance regarding their rights to peacefully protest. Specifically, it bars them from blocking entrances and exits to parking decks and other obstructive behaviors towards patients seeking medical care and staff attempting to report for work."

She added:

“As we await the federal mediator to schedule the next meeting, we continue to urge the union to work with us to reach a resolution that ends this strike as soon as possible and allows our nurses to return to work.”