By Fred Pace
More than 600 registered nurses who spent 83 days on strike in 2007 against Appalachian Regional Healthcare will receive unemployment compensation benefits, according to a state labor dispute tribunal decision.
“Almost a year later, registered nurses at Beckley ARH Hospital and Summers County ARH are getting paid for the time they were off the job on strike,” Rue Hairston of the West Virginia Nurses Association said.
The tribunal rendered its decision Aug. 25 and made it known to the registered nurses on Sept. 12, Hairston said.
Hairston said the strike centered around adequate staffing, patient safety, seniority, maintaining a successorship clause and a reduction in mandatory overtime.
“Although some issues related to adequate staffing, patient safety and mandatory overtime still remain unresolved, the reason for our fight was right, thus making the strike necessary,” Hairston said.
The tribunal decision said, “The claimants are not disqualified from receiving unemployment compensation benefits. There was not a stoppage as the result of a labor dispute. There was not a substantial curtailment of the employer’s business operations.”
No Beckley or Summers County ARH officials were available for comment, according to hospital spokespersons.
— E-mail: fpace@register-herald.com
