Striking Nurses Rally In Essex County Outside Home Of Hospital CEO

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — A large group of unionized nurses and their supporters rallied outside the suburban home of Robert Wood Johnson CEO Mark Manigan last weekend in Essex County, the latest turn in an ongoing, increasingly bitter labor dispute at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick.

On Saturday, striking nurses held a protest march in Maplewood, the town where Manigan resides. See Related: Striking RWJ Nurses To March In Maplewood, Where RWJBarnabas CEO Lives

The nurses held a silent vigil outside of his home and turned their backs on Manigan’s house, which organizers said is symbolic of how he has “turned his back on them in negotiations.”

Strike organizers from United Steel Workers Local 4-200 said they are calling on Manigan and RWJBarnabas Health to “put safe staffing first” for nearly 1,700 nurses who work at the hospital.

The striking workers walked off the job on Aug. 4. They are calling for RWJBarnabas Health to hire more nurses, in addition to salary increases across the board and a cap on how much they have to pay for their health insurance.

The call for more reinforcements on the health care front-line has been one that others in the nursing profession have echoed in the past few years. A recent rally in Trenton held in support of a “safe staffing” law in New Jersey saw support from health care workers across the state. See Related: NJ Nurses Say They're Overworked, Demand 'Safe Staffing' Law

RWJBarnabas Health recently cut off striking nurses’ health care benefits. The nurses have not been paid their salary while they are on strike.

A federal mediator has scheduled another negotiating session for Sept. 14.

Meanwhile, the hospital claims it has met their demands and has returned with salary requests that are even higher than what they originally asked for. The union turned down their proposals, administrators said.

“We remain deeply concerned about the impact the union’s prolonged strike is having on our nurses and their families,” a spokesperson said. “We hope the union shares our objective to return to the negotiating table with the goal of ending this strike immediately.”

RWJBarnabas Health has added 200 staff nurse positions since 2022 and has reduced its nurse vacancy rate to nearly half the national average, a spokesperson told NJBIZ.

Catch up on some previous coverage of the strike below (click headline to read article).

• Striking RWJ Nurses Ask Gov. Murphy To Get More Involved
• RWJ Nurses' Strike Now In 3rd Week; No Deal In Sight
• Rutgers RWJ Med School Asks Students To Volunteer In Nursing Strike

This article contains reporting by Carly Baldwin, Patch staff

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