A strike at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, N.J., has lasted nine weeks.
Here are eight things to know about the strike and where negotiations stand:
1. Members of United Steelworkers Local 4-200, which represents about 1,700 nurses at the facility, began a strike Aug. 4 after the union's most recent contract expired July 21.
2. Last month, the union agreed to terms of a consent order entered by a Superior Court judge that places restrictions on picketing activities. The order prohibits union members from engaging in acts including obstructive picketing and blocking entrances and exits to parking decks.
3. Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital has also temporarily suspended healthcare benefits, effective Sept. 1, for striking workers who would no longer be eligible since they are no longer working in the hospital.
4. Additionally, unionized workers on strike against the hospital held a march Sept. 9 in Maplewood, N.J., where RWJBarnabas Health President and CEO Mark Manigan resides, amid their labor dispute with the hospital.
5. Most recently, union members had two separate options for ending the strike — accepting the hospital's offer from Aug. 2 or agreeing to enter binding arbitration. The union voted to reject both a proposed three-year contract with the hospital and the binding arbitration offer, according to a hospital statement shared with Becker's.
6. "Short staffing remains our number one priority, and our members clearly don't believe this contract went far enough in this area," Local 4-200 President Judy Danella, RN, said in a news release shared with Becker's. "We need better staffing so that we can keep workers safe on the job and continue providing top-quality care for our patients."
7. Hospital spokesperson Wendy Gottsegen said in a statement shared with Becker's that "if the union was serious about wanting to end this strike so its members can return to work, it would have agreed to the hospital's offer for nurses to return to work and allow an independent arbitrator to review all the facts and issue a binding decision setting forth the terms of a new contract. If staffing was not safe, as falsely alleged by the union, the union would have jumped at that offer."
8. Both parties are slated to resume mediation Oct. 6.