New Jersey’s largest nurses union warns of a possible strike if hospitals don’t provide safe staffing ratios

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New Jersey’s largest nurses’ union is hoping to reach new agreements with several hospitals across the state over safe staffing ratios. If not, the more than 3,500 members of the Health Professionals and Allied Employees said they are prepared to strike.

Contracts with four hospitals — the Inspira Health Network in South Jersey, New Bridge Medical Center in Paramus, Bayonne Medical Center and Christ Hospital in Jersey City — expires Saturday. Inspira comprises the bulk of the union members in negotiations, with 1,800 nurses staffed across various locations in Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem counties.

Union President Debbie White said she remains optimistic that deals can be reached before the weekend’s deadline.

“We’re really hopeful that we can reach an agreement and that we will not have to give a strike notice, but that remains to be seen,” she said.

A vast majority of members have voted to authorize a strike across the different hospitals should negotiations reach an impasse. If a strike happens, the union must give the hospitals 10 days notice.

Meanwhile, nurses at Southern Ocean Medical Center in Stafford Township have been working without a contract since the end of April. They have been called back to the bargaining table.

Concern over staffing ratios are at the center of discussions

White said it is important for the hospital to honor their demand for safe staffing ratios that keep both nurses and patients safe.

She cited the August 2023 strike at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, where 700 nurses represented by United Steel Workers walked the picket line for four months before a tentative agreement was reached. That action became a turning point in labor advocacy for health care workers.

“I think managers, our management teams, are very aware that healthcare workers are no longer going to accept the status quo,” she said. “That steel workers strike in New Brunswick highlighted exactly where our membership is at this critical juncture, and they’re not unaware of that.”

There has been “20 years worth of research,” according to White, since California implemented the country’s first staffing ratio law that shows the benefits of the practice.

“They’ve been proven in study after study, not only to improve patient outcomes and decrease patient deaths, but it also increases patient satisfaction,” White said. “Because nurses are available, because they can be there for the patients. They’re not running around crazy trying to handle these astronomical assignments that they’re given.”

A spokesperson for Inspira Health Network said the network has completed nine bargaining sessions and “continues to bargain in good faith.”

“Our nurses are the most qualified, compassionate clinicians and we respect all they give to our patients and our community,” they said.