Suburban Hospital Nurses To Strike In Montgomery County

EAST NORRITON, PA — Nurses at Suburban Community Hospital in Montgomery County have voted near unanimously to authorize a strike against Prime Healthcare, the for-profit corporation that owns the hospital, if their demands are not immediately addressed.

Workers at Suburban and Lower Bucks Hospital, which is also under Prime's ownership, said they have been attempting to negotiate with their employer for months over what they call dangerous working conditions and the refusal of Prime to provide adequate healthcare.

Workers at Suburban voted 97 percent in favor of a strike, while workers at Lower Bucks voted 96 percent in favor.

“A healthcare company should be setting the tone for what healthcare is,” Suburban ICU nurse Shannan Giambrone, co-president of the Suburban General Nurses’ Association, told Patch. “Their whole business depends on people seeking out good healthcare. But when it comes to their employees, they don’t feel the need to provide us with the ability to seek out good healthcare in areas where Prime doesn’t offer it."

Nurses are now expected to work as drivers, secretaries, aides, janitors, maintenance workers, and more, the union said.

"As our hospital cuts staff, nurses pick up the slack," Lower Bucks registered nurse Shirley Crowell added.

Nurse contracts expired on Oct. 11, and the past six weeks have seen picketing and outdoor protests demanding a change. The recent vote was not a formal declaration of the strike beginning, rather a vote of the next step if issues are not addressed. It's not yet clear exactly when a potential strike would begin.

The protests and looming strike come amid ongoing recoil from the pandemic which has left hospitals and healthcare systems across the nation shortstaffed and underfunded. It's also part of a nationwide reckoning faced by for-profit health networks over treatment of overworked and at-risk frontline workers.

The union says that Prime is able to staff all of their Pennsylvania hospitals at the appropriate level. They point to how the network has done so in California, which has state-mandated nurse to patient ratios.

In a statement, Prime said that negotiations were ongoing and they were prepared to reach an agreement.

"Prime Healthcare continues to bargain in good faith with (union leadership) with the goal of reaching an agreement in the best interests of the hospitals, its employees, and most importantly, those who we serve," a spokesperson for Prime told Patch. "Proposals have been delivered to the union from the hospitals that would increase wages and provide a valuable healthcare plan, maintain important benefits, and be competitive with other hospitals in the market. It is disappointing that despite progress being made, the union has walked away from negotiations and has chosen to strike, but that will not impact our commitment to providing quality patient care to our communities throughout the holidays and always."

Prime owns 45 hospitals in 14 states and is facing similar protests and strikes from workers across the country, including in Los Angeles.