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Season 5, Episode 4

Four months on strike earn nurses new contract at New Jersey Hospital

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Guest Name:

Judy Danella

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usw4200.org 

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Returning to the America’s Work Force Union Podcast, Judy Danella, President of USW Local 4-200, discussed the new contract earned by nurses at the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital after a four-month strike. Danella discussed the difficulties striking nurses faced and what the safe staffing win means for nursing in New Jersey.

When Danella last appeared on the show, Local 4-200 was on strike with the RWJ University Hospital. After four months, 88 percent of the nearly 1,700 striking nurses voted to approve a new agreement with the hospital. Danella talked about the requests by the nurses in the new contract.

During the strike, the nurses faced several challenges from their employers. The employer chose to eliminate health insurance for the striking workers, but Danella spoke about how the USW could provide replacement coverage. She also spoke about the delay tactics used by the employer. After each negotiation and proposal from the union, the employer would take several weeks to respond to the offer, leaving uncertainty around the proceedings.

One of the major wins in the new contract is the implementation of safe staffing ratios and the ability to enforce them. By creating a safe staffing ratio, care coverage for patients will improve, and create a safer working environment for the nurses. Previously, the lack of safe staffing ratios created patient care coverage gaps. The contract has set the standard for potential legislation to be created for the state of New Jersey after local politicians try to prevent any more strikes in the nursing industry and grow the profession.

Hear more from Danella on the strike by listening to the show above.

America’s Work Force is the only daily labor podcast in the US and has been on the air since 1993, supplying listeners with useful, relevant input into their daily lives through fact-finding features, in-depth interviews, informative news segments and practical consumer reports. America’s Work Force is committed to providing an accessible venue in which America's workers and their families can hear discussion on important, relevant topics such as employment, healthcare, legislative action, labor-management relations, corporate practices, finances, local and national politics, consumer reports and labor issues.

America’s Work Force Union Podcast is brought to you in part by our sponsors: AFL-CIO, American Federation of Government Employees, American Federation of Musicians Local 4, American Alliance for Manufacturing, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Columbus/Central Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council, Communication Workers of America, International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers, International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers Local 50, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Crafts, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 6, Ironworkers Great Lakes District Council, The Labor Citizen newspaper, Laborers International Union of The National Labor Office of Blue Cross and Blue Shield, North America, North Coast Area Labor Federation, Ohio Federation of Teachers, Survey and Ballot Systems, United Labor Agency, United Steelworkers.

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