Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and representatives from Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, N.J., have traded critical words this week amid a strike at the hospital, which began Aug. 4.
On Oct. 27, Mr. Sanders' Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee held a field hearing in New Brunswick centered on the strike, staffing and the healthcare workforce.
Mr. Sanders had invited Mark Manigan, the CEO of RWJBarnabas Health, and Alan Lee, the CEO of the nonprofit Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, to attend the hearing. Mr. Lee and Mr. Manigan instead submitted written testimony, a decision Mr. Sanders expressed disappointment in and had asked them to reconsider.
"There are a number of questions that I wanted to ask them," Mr. Sanders wrote in an Oct. 26 statement before the hearing. "I was particularly interested in having them explain to the committee how it happens that they could afford to spend some $90 million on traveling nurses, but somehow could not afford to sign a fair contract with their own nurses to increase patient safety at their nonprofit hospital."
Mr. Sanders wrote that he was also "interested in learning how they could afford to pay their CEO over $17 million in compensation in 2021, but apparently cannot afford to mandate the same safe nurse-patient ratios that have been in place in California for nearly 20 years."
The field hearing comes as members of United Steelworkers Local 4-200, which represents about 1,700 nurses at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, have been on strike since Aug. 4 after the union's most recent contract expired July 21.
Wendy Gottsegen, a Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital spokesperson, has pushed back against Mr. Sanders' comments regarding the hearing.
"It's unconscionable that the senior senator from Vermont overtly inserts himself into labor negotiations between a hospital in New Jersey and our nurses — and his public statements … illustrate that true intent," Ms. Gottsegen said in an Oct. 26 statement shared with Becker's.
She also noted that Mr. Manigan and Mr. Lee submitted comprehensive written testimony "that they hope will inform the committee as it works to understand and address the root cause of labor shortages across healthcare professions, especially in nursing, and the need for greater investments in healthcare all across this country."
The written testimony shared with Becker's states, in part, that the hospital has safe staffing guidelines agreed to by the USW 4‐200 negotiating committee in multiple contract settlement offers from the hospital that they failed to approve. The testimony also emphasized the hospital's efforts to reach an agreement with the union, as well as its commitment to patients, staff and community benefit.
"We firmly believe in collective bargaining and that those negotiations should be conducted at the bargaining table — not at a press conference," Ms. Gottsegen's statement reads. "We look forward to our next session where we will continue to negotiate transparently and in good faith towards reaching a fair and equitable resolution."