Debbie Watson, 58, a member of the SEIU bargaining committee who has worked as an MRI tech at Geisinger for 12 years, stands behind the podium during the press conference Thursday. Behind her stands fellow union members, family and friends.
Margaret Roarty | Times Leader
The union is threatening to authorize a 10-day strike on May 1 if negotiations fall through
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PLAINS TWP. — Unionized technical employees from Geisinger Wyoming Valley (GWV) Medical Center held a press conference Thursday amid ongoing contract negotiations with Geisinger, adding their voices to a growing number of health care workers nationwide fighting for fair wages and safe working conditions for both staff and patients.
The press conference was held two weeks before a May 1 deadline when GWV techs would vote to authorize a potential 10-day strike in the event that contract negotiations fall through.
According to a press release, 360 GWV respiratory, radiology and procedural workers have been in negotiations with Geisinger since voting to join the state Service Employees International Union (SEIU) last summer.
If a strike authorization is put to a vote, GWV workers would join fellow union members at Geisinger Community Medical Center in Scranton, who similarly voted last month to authorize a strike if necessary.
During the press conference, health care workers spoke passionately about how burnout, insufficient wages, and recent hospital consolidation has led to high employee turnover rates and has negatively effected the quality of care they can provide.
Risant Health, created by California-based Kaiser Permanente, completed its acquisition of Geisinger on March 31, 2024.
Debbie Watson, 58, a member of the SEIU bargaining committee who has worked as an MRI tech at Geisinger for 12 years, spoke about how staffing shortages led to increased wait times for patients.
“Whether you need an emergency care, a routine visit, or an imaging test, it feels like access to health care is becoming more and more out of reach,” said Watson, who has worked in healthcare for nearly two decades.
Michael Montanez, 32, who works at Geisinger as an emergency room tech, said that before the COVID-19 pandemic, it was rare to see a wait time in the ER exceed eight hours.
Now, there are some days where he’ll check on a patient and come back the next day to see them stilling waiting to get the care they need.
“With a 24-hour emergency department, that shouldn’t be the case,” Montanez said.
Getting paid time off approved has also become challenge, Watson said, and in January, Geisinger took away employee’s extended sick time and all of the hours that they accrued.
“So, now we have to use PTO and then it goes into short term disability. It’s 60% income, not 100% like we used to get,” she explained.
For Montanez, losing that extended sick time “really hurt” and felt to him like a betrayal trust.
“If they could take the extended PTO, what else can they take, you know?”
Kathy Uher, a health care worker for 25 years who has spent the last seven working in the urology department at Geisinger, said that she witnessed countless people get hired and then leave shortly afterward for better wages and benefits somewhere else.
“The amount of patients is nearly impossible to take on,” Uher said. “We’re exhausted both mentally and physically with goals to meet and not enough hands to do the work. Sometimes I’m required to do the same tasks that [registered nurses] do at a pay rate that is nearly not enough to support my family.”
In spite of all these challenges, workers were hopeful that the union would be able to win a fair contract.
“We stuck with Geisinger through the darkest days of [the COVID-19 pandemic] to make sure our patients got the care they deserve. Now, we are asking Geisinger take care of us,” said Watson.
Montanez echoed those sentiments.
“I’m hoping we get a fair contract that benefits not only us, but the patients as well, that both us and Geisinger can be proud of.”