Nurses have 24-hour strike at Pa. hospital

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. (AP) — About 150 nurses at a northeastern Pennsylvania hospital are picketing to protest their lack of a contract.

Members of the Wyoming Valley Nurses Association kicked off a 24-hour strike at Wilkes-Barre General Hospital on this morning.

The nurses have been working without a contract since their previous contract expired in April.

Wilkes-Barre General Hospital is owned by Commonwealth Health, a for-profit company based in Tennessee. It has brought in replacement workers and a spokesman said patient care wouldn’t suffer.

Union leaders say the company has not bargained in good faith. Wages, health-care costs and staffing levels are said to be the major sticking points.