More than 1,400 nurses, health care workers vote to authorize strike

By Tasmin Mahfuz

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    CHAMBERSBURG, Pennsylvania (WGAL) — WGAL learned Wednesday morning that more than 1,400 nurses and health care workers voted to authorize a strike after eight weeks of intense bargaining with WellSpan Health.

WGAL News 8’s Tasmin Mahfuz interviewed Gayle Alleman, a registered nurse and member of the SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania Union, to walk us through what’s been happening behind the scenes.

You can watch the full interview above or read the transcript below.

What is the reason for the strike? Tasmin: This morning we found out more than 1,400 nurses and health care workers voted to authorize a strike after eight weeks of intense bargaining with WellSpan health. We’re now joined live by Gayle Allen, a registered nurse. Thank you so much for joining us.

Gayle: You’re welcome. Thanks for having me.

Tasmin: So that vote was actually 87% of the union. Can you walk us through what’s been happening behind the scenes? Why are nurses and health care workers, in Chambersburg specifically, upset?

Gayle: The health care workers are really upset because we want WellSpan Health to acknowledge the struggle and the dire crisis of understaffing, burnout and exhaustion that our team at Chambersburg Hospital has been facing.

And we’ve been working really hard to meet them at the negotiation table and collaborate on a fair contract.

“We’re talking about recruitment, retention, improving work conditions.”

Tasmin: Can you talk more about that? The burnout and low wages, how that directly impacted the quality of patient care.

Gayle: So, being burned out and the dire crisis of understaffing, it’s complete turnover. It doesn’t help us with retention and offering the best quality workers that our community here in Chambersburg needs.

Tasmin: And you’re talking about negotiating with WellSpan. What were the requests that were made and ultimately denied by WellSpan? And as of right now, WellSpan hasn’t released a statement yet. So why do you think that is?

Gayle: I’m not sure why they have not released a statement. We’ve been at the negotiating table all day today, and they’re just saying that they don’t have answers for us yet, and we’re patiently waiting for them to come back to the table, but they haven’t done that.

“The strike is the last thing we want to do.”

Tasmin: Can you talk about what you guys have been asking for from WellSpan?

Gayle: Generally speaking, we’re talking about recruitment, retention, improving work conditions so that we don’t have to work short. We don’t want to be adversarial. We want to provide great relationships, and we want a collaborative relationship with them. The healthcare workers are working really hard for the patients every day, and we just want them to listen.

Tasmin: Yeah, so there is a concern that this strike will affect patients and their health care. What do people in Chambersburg need to know about the strike and what could happen?

Gayle: The entire reason that we would go on strike would be to protect them, to offer the highest level of care that we possibly could for them. And, it wouldn’t be immediate; the strike is the last thing we want to do for our community, but if we are forced to go that route, we may have to.

And if that is the case, we would give the hospital a ten-day notice.

Tasmin: All right, Gayle, thank you so much for joining us and giving us that background information. Really appreciate you.

Gayle: No problem, have a great evening.

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