Seventeen
health-care professionals at the Delaware County prison have
signed cards indicating they want to unionize, a union official
said Saturday. April
Smith, director of organizing for the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses
and Allied Professionals, said all but one of the nurses, nurse practitioners
and physician assistants at the facility signed union cards over the last two
weeks.
"We’re delighted that the professionals at the George W. Hill correctional
facility have decided to join PASNAP," Bill Cruice, the union’s executive
director, said.
"
At a time when experienced nurses in Delaware County can easily make over $42
an hour with full benefits, it’s absurd that these nurses have put up with
substandard salaries and benefits, not to mention dangerous working conditions,
for so long," he added.
PASNAP represents 5,000 registered nurses and other professionals in Pennsylvania,
including those at Crozer-Chester Medical Center and Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital.
Smith said these prison employees want to unionize because of understaffing,
hazardous working conditions and having no paid vacation for the first year
of employment.
She added that turnover has been "extremely high" as nurses leave for
higher pay and better benefits at other Delaware County health-care facilities.
Those that are at the prison signed the cards Friday, Smith said.
"
They really are a dedicated group of nurses," she said.
The request is now submitted to the Labor Relations Board, which will usually
set an election within the next four to six weeks.
Smith said the nurses and physician assistants contacted PASNAP after reading
about new contract for Crozer-Chester Medical Center nurses in the Daily
Times.
She noted that this contract makes Crozer nurses the highest-paid registered
nurses in the state.
The 741-member Crozer-Chester Nurses Association began negotiating with the
hospital management in April and reached a consensus in May.
A majority of members approved the three-year pact, which provides for 3.5
percent pay raises the first year and 4 percent for the following two years,
based on
an average salary between $65,000 and $70,000. The contract also includes
employer matches to pension plan payments and early retirement options with
partially
paid medical benefits.
Bobbie McClay, president of PASNAP’s local union, is also a registered
nurse at Crozer with 20 years seniority. She looks forward to adding members.
"
I’m happy to welcome all of our colleagues at the George W. Hill facility
to the largest, most effective professional union of nurses in the state," McClay
said.
Smith said a comparison between county prison nurses’ salaries and those
at Crozer showed a substantial difference.
"
They are lagging dramatically behind," she said of the prison professionals.
However, she added, it was not possible to pinpoint an average salary of
the prison nurses.
"
It’s all over the map and one of the concerns people have is there is no
real respect for nursing experience," Smith said.
In addition, the prison population has increased but the number of medical
staff to meet that need has stayed the same, she said.
"
The census at the prison has jumped," Smith said, "but the nursing
staff has not."
Prison board solicitor Robert DiOrio could not be reached Saturday. However,
previously, he has reserved comment on organizing issues within the prison,
stating that the county does not involve itself in internal employment issues.
The Thornbury prison is managed through the GEO Group Inc., formerly Wackenhut
Corrections Corp., through a publicly funded contract. Its daily average
population last year was 1,785 residents.
Representatives from the GEO Group Inc. were also unable to be reached Saturday.
In March, non-security employees voted to join Teamsters Local 312 by a more
than 2-1 margin. That union covers about 80 employees such as counselors,
supervisors, clerical workers and some medical personnel.
The prison guards, who number about 280, have been represented by the Delaware
County Prison Employees Independent Union since 1999.
Last updated on
September 1, 2005
| PASNAP