Wilkes Rips King's, Sets Record With 10-0 Start

311 Non-emergency Number Also Faces Hang-up

By BRIAN MALINA; Times Leader Staff Writer
 Wednesday, January 14, 1998 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Page: 1A 





PLAINS TWP.- Wyoming Valley Health Care System registered nurses could be
on the picket line Jan. 26, if a tentative contract agreement is not reached
today. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Representatives of the Wyoming Valley Nurses Association and the health
care system will meet with a federal mediator at 10 a.m. today at the East
Mountain Inn in Plains Township, according to Karen Thomas, a coronary care
nurse advocate. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "If we don't leave with an agreement, something we all could live with, a
strike notice will be filed," union President Bernadette Gately said Tuesday. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 In a two-page statement, Wyoming Valley Health Care System criticized the
union for talking publicly about a work stoppage. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "Both sides had previously agreed to rerain from issuing media statements
about the negotiations," the health care system release stated. "Good faith
negotiations require both parties to adhere to mutual agreements. ... Recent
public statements by the union have been counterproductive to that end." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Gately said Tuesday that the strike notice is written and will be filed if
an agreement is not reached. "We're hoping that there will be a tentative
agreement." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Before the 800 registered nurses walk out, they would be allowed to vote on
whatever offer from the health care system is on the table. A strike would be
called if the offer is rejected. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Federal law requires the union to give the hospital at least 10 days notice
before walking out. That means written notice must be filed by Friday for the
nurses to strike on Jan. 26. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 According to the written statement, the health care system has a
contingency plan ready but will not make public its strike provisions. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "Wyoming Valley Health Care System believes it is inappropriate to discuss
the contingency plan in detail as it may prove distracting to the bargaining
process and send a harmful message that negotiations have broken down,"
according to the statement. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The release also said health care system officials believed both parties
had agreed to hold negotiating sessions on Jan. 21 and 28 as well as today.
"It now appears the union has canceled those two meetings." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 But Deb Ferguson of PSEA Health Care, the union representing the nurses,
said that is not true. "We told them that we wanted a settlement and did not
want to be negotiating through the whole month." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 She also said the two late January meetings were proposed by the system in
December but never agreed to by the union. Ferguson declined further comment. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 In November, union members voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike if
talks reached an impasse. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The parties agreed to meet today after an 11-hour negotiating session last
Wednesday. Prior to last week's meeting Gately warned that the union was
prepared to strike if progress was not made. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 After the meeting, Gately said several unidentified issues still needed to
be resolved but there had been enough movement to warrant another session. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Although she would not say what those issues were, previously she
identified patient care issues as a focus of the negotiations. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Today's meeting is the second between the parties since federal mediator
Charles Gamble ordered a cooling off period in December. The order kept the
union from striking until additional talks were held. Gamble could not be
reached Tuesday for comment. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Negotiations began in late 1996 after registered nurses from Wilkes-Barre
General Hospital, Nesbitt Memorial Hospital in Kingston, and the

Nurses At 2 Hospitals Eye Jan. 26 Strike Date 
A Notice Of A Pending 
Strike Could Be Filed After 
A Meeting Today Between 
The Nurses Union, Hospital 
Officials And A Federal Mediator

Nurses At 2 Hospitals Eye Jan. 26 Strike Date A Notice Of A Pending Strike Could Be Filed After A Meeting Today Between The Nurses Union, Hospital Officials And A Federal Mediator