Nearly 800 nurses working at St. Mary Medical Center in Langhorne have walked off the job Tuesday morning.
The views from Chopper 6 and the Action Cam saw the nurses on the picket line outside the facility starting at 7 a.m.
According to the Pennsylvania Association of Nurses and Allied Professionals (PASNAP), the main issue is safe staffing levels. They said St. Mary's owner, Trinity Health, has refused calls for additional help.
"The nurses feel they have no other means of making Trinity listen than to strike -- for themselves, for their patients, and for what is coming over the next several months," PASNAP said.
PASNAP, which represents 8,500 nurses and healthcare professionals across the state, approximately 800 of them work at St. Mary, said 85 percent of the nurses voted in favor of a strike authorization at the end of October.
RELATED: Nurses at St. Mary Medical Center vote to authorize strike
PASNAP said health care workers are fleeing to other nearby hospitals 20 minutes away where they can make $6 to $7 more an hour.
The nurses at St. Mary have been bargaining for a contract for more than a year.
The strike is expected to last two days.
Hospital officials with Trinity Health released the following statement Tuesday morning, saying "qualified, professional agency nurses will be hired" while the nurses are on strike:
Unfortunately, the November 12 bargaining session between St. Mary and PASNAP ended without an agreement, and PASNAP rejected increased wage offers made by St. Mary on November 13. The bargaining unit members will go ahead with their planned strike on November 17 and while we are disappointed at their decision to strike, we recognize their legal right to do so. While they strike, St. Mary is laser-focused on ensuring we continue to provide care for our community, especially in light of the pandemic's trajectory -- case counts, hospitalizations, and community transmission have all increased in our region. Qualified, professional agency nurses have been hired to provide care during the strike in collaboration with the remainder of our exceptional clinical teams; they are experienced and skilled in working with COVID+ and all patients needing healthcare services. The hospital will schedule returning strikers beginning on November 22, to allow a safe transition in patient care from replacement nurses back to St. Mary nurses. St. Mary remains committed to bargaining in good faith to reach agreement on a fair, consistent and sustainable initial contract for St. Mary nurses, and we hope negotiations will resume in the near future.
St. Mary nurses joined PASNAP in August 2019.
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