Strike Called Off After Civista Threats
Monday, May 7, 2012(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)
Nurses at Civista Medical
Center called off their planned May 8-9 strike
after
the hospital threatened to replace workers who
walked out. Civista RN Patti
D’Ambrosio called the threat
“intimidation,” and SEIU 1199 spokeswoman
Maureen
Higgins told The Maryland
Independent that the nurses decided on
May 3 to cancel the strike because of concern
about
patients, not fear for their jobs. “They’re
really concerned that management
would lock them out for a week and during that
time, they would have the
hospital staffed by temporary nurses who
don’t know the hospital and don’t know
the patients,” Higgins said. “There is a
staffing crisis at Civista and the
hospital administration is making it worse by
unlawfully threatening to replace
experienced nurses,” said Gail Kingman, a
Civista RN. The union has filed an
“unfair labor practice” complaint with the
National Labor Relations Board. The
planned strike was intended to pressure the
hospital to improve its wage offer and increase
staffing levels in ongoing contract
negotiations.
- adapted from The Maryland
Independent's report;
check the Protecting
Civista Care site for details
.