Strike averted at Scranton Geisinger Community Medical Center

Anna Wiest, The Daily Item, Sunbury, Pa.
·2 min read

Apr. 29—SCRANTON — A strike planned to begin next week has been averted as nearly 1,000 Geisinger Community Medical Center caregivers signed three-year contract deals last week following months of negotiations.

The Scranton caregivers, made up of three different bargaining units, overwhelmingly ratified contracts that satisfied their concerns regarding caregiver protection and retention as well as patient safety and care, according to a press release.

"We secured the biggest increase I've seen in my career as a nurse, which should go a long way toward keeping RNs here at GCMC, caring for the community we love and that has long supported us," said perioperative care nurse Kali Gargone, membership chair of the Northeast Pennsylvania Nurses Association at the Scranton hospital. "We're proud of the hard work we did to strengthen safety protocols, and for the first time ever, we have provisions to ensure safe staffing in our contract."

The three Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals-affiliated bargaining unit groups at the Scranton hospital include the Northeast Pennsylvania Nurses Association, the GCMC LPNs, Technicians and Degreed Professionals and the GCMC Advanced Practitioners.

The nurses association, which has been unionized for more than 15 years, secured a contract that includes provisions that ensure safe staffing. This is the first time such provisions have been granted, according to a press release.

The contract includes the right to file a grievance if the hospital is not appropriately staffing the hospital, a security personnel "huddle" to discuss safety matters and significant wage increases, the Pennsylvania association said.

The contract is the first for the nurses following nearly a year of negotiations beginning in May of 2023.

The contract includes back pay for overtime bonus shifts worked since May 7, 2023, and a new wage scale to improve recruitment and retentions, according to the release.

"We came together from every corner of the hospital to work together for each other and for our patients," said radiologic technologist Pam Guido, RT, a 23-year veteran of the hospital. "At the beginning of this process, most of us didn't even know each other. Now, we have a strong, unified voice to advocate for caregivers and patients, hospital-wide."

GCMC Advanced Practitioners also agreed upon their first contract having begun negotiations in May of 2024.

Their contract includes a wage scale that appropriately reflects experience and expertise, the press release said.

"I've been a nurse practitioner for 23 years and with Geisinger for 16," said certified registered nurse practitioner and lipid specialist Caroline DeRichemond — the only board-certified advanced practice lipid specialist in the hospital's system. "I will be retiring in the next three to five years, but I feel, with this contract and the recognition and reward that come with it, I am part of a legacy to help the people who are coming up after me. I am literally crying tears of joy today."