On November 6, 800+ nurses at St. Mary Medical Center in Bucks County and 260+ nurses at Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital in Delaware County, organized by the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals (PASNAP), announced (10 days in advance) their intention to strike to Trinity Health, the hospitals’ parent company. Within the ten days’ time, the Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital capitulated to the threat and yielded their demands: gradual increase in pay and better staffing. This, however, did not happen at the St. Mary Medical Center, hence the nurses went on strike on the 16th of November. Initially, they had intended it to be 2 days long, however they were locked out for an additional 3 days by St Mary. During the strike, Trinity Health hired scabs from a union-busting firm with an intent to weather the storm.

Ever since Trinity Health took over the two hospitals, both have endured understaffing and staff-turnover issues; these must be understood in the context of a drive to increase profit by intensifying labor, laying off a portion of the workforce, and depressing wages, thereby lowering costs. It is no coincidence that St. Mary Medical Center is one of the most profitable firms for Trinity Health in the region. Profit is unpaid labor; is it any wonder then why St. Mary nurses are being made to do twice the work of an average nurse with no increase in pay, especially in the midst of a recession?

The struggle was not centered around wages, however, but around the issues of under‑staffing and staff turnover, hence when St. Mary proposed to only raise wages, the nurses turned it down; an increase in wages does not necessarily translate to an increase in staffing. Under‑staffing results in overwork. This has very real consequences; according to a study published in the International Journal of Nursing Studies, every increase in patient load per nurse results, on average, in a 7% increase in mortality rates. There were various reports of trauma from the St. Mary nurses as a consequence of their patients dropping like flies. Yet another example of the antagonism between profit and human life.

Post‑strike negotiation for a contract in St. Mary is occurring but no contract has been arrived at; St. Mary refuses to budge with regards to wage scales. New operating room and critical care hires are being paid significantly more than the medical center’s long‑standing nurses. The St. Mary nurses have asked to be treated equally to the new hires with regards to pay but without success so far.

We must keep in mind the context of these negotiations, however.

The PASNAP did not make the call for the unification of the Mercy Fitzgerald and St. Mary strikes; it did not call for the Mercy Fitzgerald nurses to strike for St. Mary and vice‑versa; the Mercy Fitzgerald union branch did not demand the concessions yielded to it be yielded to the St Mary nurses as well. This, we believe, is a mistake. Capital has been significantly concentrated into the hands of a few, massive firms, meaning that they can, in many cases, easily weather a localized strike; consequently, strikes of this sort are rarely successful. Working class unity is more necessary than ever (especially today) and this translates to, in this case, unified and simultaneous strikes across several branches of a firm or even across multiple firms. The struggle at St. Mary and at Fitzgerald is not an isolated one: the same struggle is unfolding across the entire United States and beyond; it just requires unification to be successful.

Another point to take note of is that the St. Mary strike was not an indefinitely prolonged one; it was intended to only be 2 days long. We believe this is another road to failure, for the same reasons highlighted above. A large firm such as Trinity Health can easily hire up scabs and wait it out for 5 or so days relatively unscathed. Union‑busting firms are expensive, however; an indefinitely prolonged strike could have made the costs from hiring one become more than it was worth and Trinity could have capitulated. The purpose of strikes is to force out concessions; the road to success is to not stop until either you get the concessions you want or you use up your strike fund (make sure you have a bountiful one).

Additionally, during the St. Mary picket, both an AFL‑CIO representative and a state representative showed up and gave speeches offering aid and support. It seems the state and AFL are attempting to cozy up to either the St Mary nurses or the PASNAP. Do not trust these hucksters; they will stab you in the back the moment you pose a real threat.

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The nurses approved a new contract on December 20. It increased wages while also equalizing pay between all nurses with the same level of experience. It also included measures to improve staffing.