TribLIVE's Daily and Weekly email newsletters deliver the news you want and information you need, right to your inbox.
The Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals filed charges of unfair labor practices with the National Labor Relations Board Friday, alleging Excela Health violated the law by not recognizing the nurses union of the former Mercy Jeannette Hospital.
In a letter dated May 1 - the same day Excela formally completed its acquisition of Mercy Jeannette - the union demanded Excela recognize it and begin bargaining in good faith for a new contract. Most of Mercy Jeannette's nurses accepted positions with Excela Health and could be scheduled to work at any of the four Excela hospitals in the county.
"Excela's bizarre plan to force nurses from all of their facilities to rotate between various hospitals will be chaotic for the dedicated nursing staff and potentially harmful to patients," said Bill Cruice, executive director of PASNAP. "Ordinarily, nurses are rightfully anxious of being forced to rotate to unfamiliar units in their own hospital, let alone a hospital 10 or more miles away."
PASNAP maintains Excela has taken a position that because a majority of Mercy Jeannette nurses will not be working strictly at the Jeannette facility, and nurses from other Excela hospitals will be working at Jeannette, they do not have a legal obligation to recognize the nurses union.
"Patient care is, and always has been, our primary focus," said John Caverno, senior vice president of human resources for Excela Health. "Toward that end, we have successfully transitioned the Westmoreland Hospital at Jeannette into Excela Health and there has been no interruption in patient care.
"We have received a letter from PASNAP asking us to recognize them. Our response is what it has always been - our solution for Westmoreland Hospital at Jeannette brings employees from all areas of our organization together, sharing best practices, working side by side to deliver quality patient care."
