Labor Strife Flares Up Again At Clara Maass Hospital In Belleville

BELLEVILLE, NJ — Contract talks between nurses at Clara Maass Medical Center in Belleville and their employer are turning sour again as workers continue a long-running labor standoff with hospital administrators.

Earlier this week, union leaders with 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East announced that they have filed a federal unfair labor charge with the National Labor Relations Board against Clara Maass and its parent organization RWJBarnabas Health Inc., which has a corporate office in West Orange.

The union is alleging that the hospital is refusing to “bargain in good faith” on a new work contract – an accusation that administrators have called “baseless and insulting.” A copy of the NLRB charge can be viewed here.

In the summer of 2022, more than 500 registered nurses at Clara Maass voted to form a union with 1199SEIU. Spokespeople said that “safe staffing,” job security, pay and benefits were among the most important issues.

The newly unionized health care workers have been trying to land their first work contract ever since, but talks with hospital administrators have been hitting a brick wall.

Union leaders are alleging that since negotiations began in November 2022, administrators have “insisted on retaining total control over virtually every significant aspect of the employment relationship, including the ability to change – at their sole discretion – nurses’ wages, hours and health/retirement benefits, to eliminate paid time off, and to subcontract nursing at the hospital.”

“Moreover, while nurse contracts at other RWJBH affiliated hospitals, such as nearby Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center [in Livingston], have clear staffing guidelines in their contracts, Clara Maass management is refusing to include staffing guidelines in the contract and refusing to agree that the nurses can share a voice in setting staffing standards,” union leaders charged.

“What is it about this community that makes RWJ-Barnabas Health think that patients don’t need the same nurse staffing levels, or workers the same quality of jobs, at Clara Maass as they would get at another hospital?” 1199SEIU executive vice president Rhina Molina questioned.

• See Related: NJ Nurses Say They're Overworked, Demand 'Safe Staffing' Law

The union’s latest push saw support from U.S. Rep. Andy Kim (NJ-3), who is running for U.S. Senate in New Jersey this year.

“No matter the need, health care workers across New Jersey put others before themselves to look after our communities,” Kim said.

“My mom worked as a nurse and throughout her career, I saw up close how important safe staffing standards, fair wages and benefits are to support their everyday service keeping people safe and healthy,” the congressman said. “Right now, nurses at Clara Maass are simply asking to be treated fairly. Nurses are not asking for the moon, and it is long-past time for an agreement that appreciates their needs on the job.”

Another U.S. Senate candidate in New Jersey, Patricia Campos-Medina, has also supported the unionized nurses at Clara Maass as they fight for a work contract.

• See Related: Tensions Rise At Clara Maass Hospital As NJ Nurses Rally For Contracts
• See Related: NJ Nurses Demand New Contract; Hundreds Rally At Belleville Hospital

ADMINISTRATORS: ‘BASELESS AND INSULTING’

Reached for comment about the union’s unfair labor practices claim, a spokesperson for Clara Maass gave Patch the following reply:

“For more than a year and a half, Clara Maass Medical Center (CMMC) has attempted to negotiate with 1199SEIU in good faith, but the union has yet to agree on proposals consistently put forth by management. For the union to claim bad faith on behalf of CMMC, is both baseless and insulting, but not out of character for this union. The entrenched position taken by the union continues to delay any agreement, and has done so to the detriment of their own membership – namely, our talented nurses at the medical center. For example, CMMC proposed that it would retain the ability to make market adjustment increases to wages during the term of the agreement. The union rejected that, even though this language could result in additional wage increases for our nurses.”

“Our nurses surely remember that when other RNs in our system received market wage adjustment increases in 2022, the SEIU blocked those wage increases for our nurses until September 2023,” she continued. “Our full-time nurses lost on average approximately $7,000 because of the SEIU’s delay in agreeing to this.”

• See Related: Clara Maass Nurses Will Get Raises; Contract Negotiations Continue

“We are committed to providing our nurses the compensation they deserve and do not want anything like that to happen again,” the hospital’s spokesperson added. “We urge 1199SEIU to come to the table in good faith and cease these endless delays.” Read More: Clara Maass Offered Nurses Pay Raises Last October, Administrators Say

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