Forum Health owner faces strike at Pa. hospital

Staff report

WILKES-BARRE, PA

Community Health Systems, the new owner of Forum Health, will likely face a strike this week from nurses at one of its Pennsylvania hospitals.

Nurses at CHS-owned Wilkes-Barre General Hospital plan to strike Thursday to protest what they called “ongoing illegal behavior and bad-faith bargaining” by the Tennessee-based hospital company.

The nurses have been in contract negotiations with CHS for more than a year.

“The dedicated nurses of Wilkes-Barre General Hospital are frustrated and angry at the way that Community Health Systems has been treating us on the job and at the bargaining table,” union leader Fran Prusinski said in a statement. “Despite the record profits that they extract from our community to send to Tennessee, they treat us with disrespect and a ‘take-it-or-leave-it’ attitude.”

This week, a federal judge ordered CHS to reinstate Alex Rendina, a registered nurse at Wilkes-Barre General Hospital and president of the local union.

The judge found that CHS violated federal law by refusing to abide by a June arbitration decision to reinstate Rendina.

The Wyoming Valley Nurses Association and the Pennsylvania Association of Staffed Nurses and Allied Professionals, which represent the Wilkes-Barre nurses, said Tuesday that they intend to go through with the one-day strike.

CHS, which has more than 120 affiliated hospitals across the country, is the nation’s largest publicly traded hospital company.

The company purchased the bankrupt Forum system for $120 million in October.

Earlier this month, CHS submitted an unsolicited bid to buy Tenet Healthcare, a smaller rival based in Dallas.

Although Tenet rejected the offer, CHS said Monday that it plans to nominate directors for election at Tenet’s annual meeting.