NEWS: Sanders Stands in Solidarity with Nearly 2,000 Nurses on Strike at One of New Jersey's Biggest Hospitals

Letter

Dear Mr. Manigan:

I am writing to urge RWJ Barnabas Health (RWJBH) to bargain in good faith with United Steel
Workers (USW) Local 4-200 and come to agreement on a fair contract for nurses at Robert
Wood Johnson University Hospital (RWJUH) that provides for safe staffing standards, living
wages, and affordable and quality health care.

RWJUH nurses report reduced staffing to the point that nurses across the hospital are now caring
for unsafe numbers of patients. I have been told that ICU and pediatric nurses are being spread
too thin, and as a result, nurses are rapidly burning out while patients are not receiving the
attention they need. Rather than agreeing to safe staffing ratios, the hospital's most recent offer
instead effectively penalizes nurses for using the sick time to which they are legally entitled.
That is simply unacceptable.

While RWJBH continues to make millions in revenues, the wages for the nurses at RWJUH are
not keeping pace with the rising cost of living. It is absurd for RWJBH to claim it can afford to
pay its executives millions, yet is somehow unable to provide its nurses fair raises. Instead of
negotiating in good faith, the hospital offered a $1 an hour raise for on-call shifts only, which,
after adjusting for inflation, would amount to a significant pay cut.

It is also unconscionable that, while working long hours to provide quality health care, RWJBH
nurses are not guaranteed that same quality health care. By restricting employees' health plans to
providers within the RWJBH system, the hospital has the means and ability to reduce costs and
provide affordable health care benefits to its workers. Instead, the hospital continues to see
nurses' health costs as another means to profit and has refused to provide a meaningful
counteroffer in recent negotiations.

Instead of bargaining in good faith to reach a fair contract, I have been told the hospital is paying
travel nurses upwards of $300 an hour, on top of hotel and travel expenses. These travel nurses
are also reportedly working under the same--if not better--conditions the RWJUH nurses are
demanding with safer staffing ratios. Moreover, the fact that nurses have been forced to resort to
striking over unfair labor practices is deeply troubling.

Let's be clear: if RWJBH can afford to hire these replacement nurses and pay their executives
millions each year, they can afford a contract that keeps nurses safe and provides living wages
and good benefits. These workers have been on the frontlines in our fight against COVID-19 and
have risked their lives to save patients under challenging conditions. They deserve better.

I urge RWJUH to return to the negotiating table and bargain in good faith and end its unfair labor
practices. This is your opportunity to do the right thing and work with your employees to
improve your hospital for workers and patients. I look forward to your response.

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