Nurses initiate union

The University's Hershey Medical Center nurses join the crusade to form a new, stronger union.

Cindy Hipszer, has worked as a registered nurse in the medical intensive care unit at the University's Hershey Medical Center for eight years.

During that time, she has never seen much support from her union, the Pennsylvania Nurses' Association (PNA). She never saw any newsletters or any other attempts to keep nurses involved with union issues.

So, she, along with a majority of the 950 other registered nurses, wants to change union representatives.

"We're hoping for a stronger union that'll support the nursing issues," she said.

After meeting with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) last October, Hipszer said she supported that union.

"They just gave us a very good feeling that they've done health care (before), and they can do it again," she said, adding that more nurses keep coming to weekly meetings.

Many of Hershey's nurses want to switch to SEIU because of issues about employment, patient care and working conditions, said Fran Campo, organizer for the SEIU. Recently, many registered nurses have been laid off and replaced by licensed practitioner nurses or other health care workers.

But right now, Hershey's nurses are still a part of the PNA -- they are waiting for the approval to vote for the union they want.

The nurses contacted the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board to schedule a vote, so they could "officially" choose SEIU as their representative. The nurses also presented a petition to University President Graham Spanier on Tuesday expressing their views. Spanier was in Harrisburg for budget hearings.

"We certainly support the nurses' right to support a union," said Deborah Saline, director of public relations for Hershey.

According to Campo, though, the medical center and the PNA are delaying the union election.

"The nurses have a right to a vote now," Campo said.

But the medical center and the PNA, said they are just following the legal procedures.

"We're going very carefully and very thoroughly by the law," Saline said.

The nurses' contracts expire March 31. Negotiations were ready to be held with the PNA, Saline said, but nurses wanted to look into changing their union representative. The groups will be taking their next step March 5, when they discuss the procedures of the vote in detail.

Although Hipszer said more and more nurses are showing interest in joining the SEIU, Barry Ciccocioppo, spokesman for the PNA, said he hopes some nurses are still interested in staying with that union.

"PNA is very much in favor of holding an election as soon as possible," he said.

Greater negotiation complications have occurred because of the medical center's merger with Geisinger Medical System, Ciccocioppo said.

"I think it's going to be much more difficult to negotiate a contract after July 1," Ciccocioppo said, adding that the PNA is ready to negotiate the nurses' contract whenever they are called upon to do so.

The SEIU, he said, will have more difficulty because it has to start from scratch.

"The reality is coming July 1," Saline said. "Whatever union is in place will be bargaining under the National Labor Relations Act."