Fitch: Southern Ocean, Palisades Healthcare & Pascack Valley: Nursing Strike on June 2?NEW YORK -- Nurse labor contracts for members of the Health Professionals and Allied Employees The Health Professionals and Allied Employees (HPAE) is a health care labor union in New Jersey and Pennsylvania that represents registered nurses and other health care workers in hospitals, nursing homes, blood banks and clinics in the public and private sector. (HPAE HPAE Health Professionals and Allied Employees HPAE High-Performing Asian Economies ) are set to expire June 1, 2006 at nine hospitals in New Jersey, including at Southern Ocean County Hospital (rated 'BBB+' by Fitch; SOCH), Palisades Healthcare System, Inc. (rated 'BBB-' by Fitch; Palisades), and Pascack Valley Hospital Pascack Valley Hospital (PVH) is a 291 bed hospital, located at 250 Old Hook Road, Westwood, New Jersey. History Pascack Valley Hospital opened on June 1, 1959 as an 86-bed community hospital. It has undergone several expansions and grew to 291 beds. Association (rated 'BB' by Fitch; Pascack). Union issues include staffing levels, retirement security and benefits, and classification of charge nurses that coordinate care. The HPAE notified the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) is an independent agency of the U.S. government that seeks to prevent or settle disputes between labor unions and management that affect interstate commerce. on May 19, 2006 of its intent to strike beginning at 7am on June 2, 2006 if new contracts are not finalized. Fitch contacted management at SOCH and Pascack, and both hospitals report that they continue to believe that there is not a strikable issue on the table as negotiations progress on schedule. However, both hospitals have contingency plans for nursing coverage in place if the union nurses decide to go on strike. Fitch was unable to reach management at Palisades. If the union nurses do call a strike then any possible disruptions in the provision of care, increases in agency expense and decreases in utilization statistics could put pressure on the rating and Outlook of SOCH, Palisades and Pascack. Fitch will continue to monitor this situation and any impact on the operational and financial profiles of SOCH, Palisades and Pascack. Fitch's rating definitions and the terms of use Terms of Use are rules set up by the owner of an intellectual property or service to govern how they may be legally used. In many cases, terms of service are used as a contractual agreement between a company and users of a service they provide. of such ratings are available on the agency's public site, www.fitchratings.com. Published ratings, criteria and methodologies are available from this site, at all times. Fitch's code of conduct, confidentiality, conflicts of interest, affiliate firewall, compliance and other relevant policies and procedures Policies and Procedures are a set of documents that describe an organization's policies for operation and the procedures necessary to fulfill the policies. They are often initiated because of some external requirement, such as environmental compliance or other governmental are also available from the 'Code of Conduct' section of this site. |
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