Nurses At Belleville Hospital Unionize; Pay, Staffing Among Issues

BELLEVILLE, NJ — Tanya Howard became a nurse for a simple reason: she loves taking care of people. But it becomes hard to “do what you love” when the job doesn’t seem to love you back, she says.

More than 500 registered nurses at Clara Maass Medical Center in Belleville have voted to unionize with 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, the labor union announced Wednesday evening. In a mail-ballot election, nearly 8 in 10 nurses voted in favor of unionization.

1199SEIU released the following statement after this week’s vote became official:

“After being hailed as ‘health care heroes’ during the pandemic, nurses saw management ignore their concerns about unsafe staffing and working conditions. Driven by a commitment to achieve quality patient care and safe staffing, real job security, pay and benefits commensurate with their profession, and respect, nurses came together to win a real voice in their workplace.”

The union continued:

“In a moment where unions are experiencing unprecedented public approval and health care workers are among the most trusted community voices, the road to win a union is still a long one. Clara Maass Medical Center management hired expensive anti-union consultants who directed several meetings and spread misinformation to dissuade nurses from exercising their legal right to unionize. Nurses claimed victory despite management’s anti-union campaign, winning a voice to advocate for themselves and their patients.”

“I love what I do, and it was getting hard to love what I do, especially when working conditions were so horrible during the COVID pandemic,” Howard said.

“Winning our union, we now have a say in how we’re treated and how our patients are treated,” Howard added. “United together, we will fight for the staffing, pay and retirement security we deserve in our first contract.”

Howard’s nursing peer at the hospital, Silvia Guimaraes, said the new union members came together with the hopes of “improve staffing and nurse and patient safety” by having a voice in their working conditions.

“Now that we’ve won, we can fight for a contract that secures safe nurse-patient ratios, supports us in protecting our licenses and guarantees fair pay and a secure retirement,” Guimaraes said. “It is going to take all of us standing together and supporting each other through negotiations to win the contract we deserve.”

Mary Ellen Clyne, president and CEO of Clara Maass Medical Center, said hospital administrators “acknowledge and respect the right of our nursing staff to decide on whether or not union representation is in their best long- and short-term interest.”

Clyne noted that the nurses voted to affiliate with the 1199SEIU as a result of a National Labor Relations Board election held over the past three weeks.

“We will do everything we can to continue to make the hospital the best possible workplace it can be,” Clyne told Patch. “Working together, collegially, with all of our health care professionals, we will continue to advance our health care mission across our community.”

1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East represents more than 450,000 healthcare workers throughout Massachusetts, New York, Maryland, New Jersey, Florida and Washington, D.C.

The union action at Clara Maass isn’t the only recent labor campaign that has taken place at a hospital in Essex County. Read More: NJ Nurses Push For Hazard Pay, 'Safe Staffing' Amid Pandemic

In June, a 31-day strike at Saint Michael's Medical Center in Newark ended with a new contract for nearly 350 nurses and hospital techs who had been demanding better pay, benefits and staffing conditions. Read More: Nurse Strike At Newark Hospital Ends With New Contract, Wage Hike

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