Five things to know:
1. The strike involves 800 nurses from Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., as well as Geisinger South Wilkes-Barre, a campus of GWVMC, and Geisinger Healthplex CenterPoint in Pittston, Pa. The three facilities are part of Danville, Pa.-based Geisinger, which has about 25,000 employees total.
2. Union members voted to authorize a strike in January and issued a strike notice Feb. 6. The nurses’ labor contract expired Jan. 31.
3. In a statement shared with Becker’s, Geisinger said that its offers “have been comprehensive, competitive and sustainable. They reflect a significant increase from the compensation and benefits package that SEIU agreed to and celebrated as historic in 2022.”
4. The union contends that management has failed to address concerns over what it says is severe understaffing, turnover and burnout. “Nurses’ top priorities are compensation that leads hospitals in the region to improve recruitment and retention; affordable healthcare benefits for themselves and their families; safety initiatives that protect staff and patients; and other provisions that help solve understaffing,” SEIU said in a Feb. 7 news release shared with Becker’s.
5. The strike is slated to end at 7 a.m., Feb. 21. Meanwhile, Geisinger has brought in temporary staff to fill workforce gaps during the strike, according to WVIA.
