By John George
– A majority of the registered nurses at Delaware County Memorial Hospital have voted to join PASNAP, the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals.
The vote, in a secret-ballot election conducted by the National Labor Relations Board on Jan. 15 and Jan. 16, was 164 to 130 in favor of unionization.
Angela Neopolitano, a registered nurse who has worked at the Drexel Hill, Pa., hospital for 34 years, said the vote followed concerns expressed by the nurses about “staff and other working conditions” and a desire to have a voice in the pending sale of Crozer-Keystone Health System, Delaware County Memorial’s parent company, to Prospect Medical Holdings.
Crozer-Keystone, in a statement released Monday, said, “We are disappointed in the results of this election, because we do not believe a union is in the best interest of DCMH, its nurses, or the community. However, we respect the right of employees to choose union representation. After the results of the election are certified by the National Labor Relations Board, we will meet with the union to bargain in good faith. We look forward to working with PASNAP to negotiate a contract that is fair for nurses and the hospital.”
Prospect Medical Holdings of Culver City, Calif., signed a definitive agreement to acquire Crozer-Keystone earlier this month. The deal still requires regulatory approvals.
On Saturday, Crozer-Keystone opened a $16.5 million ambulatory care center — the 50,000-square-foot Crozer-Keystone at Broomall — at what had been a Pathmark grocery store on Lawrence Road near Route 3.
PASNAP already represents 650 nurses and paramedics employed by the Delaware County health system.
Bill Cruice, PASNAP’s executive director, said nurses are actively organizing to join PASNAP at two other locations: 850 Hahnemann University Hospital nurses will vote in an NLRB-conducted election this week, and 450 registered nurses at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children will vote in February.
Both Hahnemann and St. Christopher’s are owned and operated by Tenet Healthcare Corp. (NYSE: THC) of Dallas, Texas.
“Our union is growing and getting stronger because nurses know they need a strong, collective voice to effectively advocate for their patients and their profession,” Cruice said.
Source – http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/morning_roundup/2016/01/nurses-at-delco-hospital-vote-to-unionize.html
