Civista Nurses to Strike Over Staffing Issues

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)Nurses at Civista Hospital in La Plata, MD are planning a 1-day strike May 8-9 over staffing and wage issues. The nurses are members of SEIU Local 1199, which has been in negotiations with Civista since December. When their contract expired in March, and after offering to bring in an outside mediator to help bridge differences, the RNs voted unanimously to consider taking direct action. “Short-staffing makes it a struggle to meet the needs of our patients” says RN Jacqueline C. Wright. "My coworkers and I love taking care of people in our community. That’s what brought us to Civista,” adds RN Trish Malloy. “None of us want to leave, but with costs rising it’s hard to imagine staying here when we could better support our families working somewhere else. This is why we’re fighting to improve standards at our hospital.” Civista’s demands for “severe and unprecedented take-backs,” and low wages have contributed to short-staffing, says the union, reporting that “the average Civista RN makes $2.53 an hour less than their counterparts at other Washington-area hospitals.” Check out the Protecting Civista Care website for more information and follow Union City for reports on the strike.