RWJUH Cuts Off Health Insurance For Nurses On Strike, Starting Friday

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ — In the latest update to the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital nurses' strike — now in its fourth week — hospital administration just announced this week that the nurses on strike will have their health insurance cut off, beginning Friday.

"As of September 1, RWJUH nurses must pay for their health benefits through COBRA," said RWJ spokeswoman Wendy Gottsegen. "This hardship, in addition to the loss of wages throughout the strike, is very unfortunate. We hope the union considers the impact a prolonged strike is having on our nurses and their families."

The nurses have not been paid their salary while they are on strike. And now their health insurance will be cut off starting this Friday.

They will have to obtain extended health insurance on their own by filing with COBRA and on average each nurse will have to pay about $1,000 out of pocket to continue their COBRA coverage. Even then, COBRA only allows them to receive health insurance for a limited time.

Gottsegen said the hospital warned the approximately 1,700 nurses before the strike began on Aug. 4 they would lose health insurance if the strike continued into September.

However, Judy Danella, an RWJ nurse and president of the nurses' union United Steel Workers 4-200, said that is false.

"They never told us before the strike began they would take away our health insurance," she said. "We only learned that would happen this week. I really think, and this is the honest truth, that RWJ just wants to hurt us."

The last time the RWJUH nurses went on strike was in 2006. That strike lasted for six weeks and during that strike, the hospital did not take away health benefits.

As of Tuesday there is no change from what Patch reported on the strike Friday: The last time both sides met was for a seven-hour meeting on Aug. 16, at which two federal mediators were present.

"Unfortunately, there was no progress and no further dates for negotiations have been scheduled," said hospital spokeswoman Gottsegen.

"RWJUH did everything it could to avoid a strike," she said. "The hospital agreed to and signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) on July 13, which included the union’s core staffing proposal and compensation settlement. The union leaders signed it and agreed to recommend the MOA to its membership, but did not. It was voted down by the nurses and a notice to strike was presented to the hospital. Then on August 2, two days before the strike, the hospital submitted a proposal to the union that went even further than what was in the MOA, and the union never presented that proposal to its membership before they went out on strike."

Danella also says that is false, and that her union never agreed to present the MOA to the nurses.

Our ongoing coverage of the RWJUH nurses' strike:

Striking RWJ Nurses Ask Gov. Murphy To Get More Involved (Aug. 25)

RWJ Nurses' Strike Now In 3rd Week; No Deal In Sight (Aug. 23)

Rutgers RWJ Med School Asks Students To Volunteer In Nursing Strike (July 28)