Local 5030 Member Testifies at Public Hearing on Hackensack-Palisades Hospital Merger

At a public hearing before the Office of the NJ Attorney General, held on December 3, Local 5030 VP Zahia Zhort spoke in support, with conditions, of the proposed affiliation agreement between Hackensack University Health Network (HUHN) and Palisades Medical Center/Harborage House (PMC/HH). More than 1,000 nurses and health professionals working at Palisades Medical Center and the Harborage House are members of HPAE Local 5030 and HPAE Local 5097 respectively.

The proposed affiliation of HUHN and PMC/HH is undergoing regulatory review under the Community Health Care Assets Protection Act (CHAPA) which requires a public hearing be held before a decision is made by the Attorney General and Commissioner of Health to support or oppose the proposed agreement.

“HPAE has a long-standing working relationship with our hospital administration, developing policies and procedures that promote patient safety, improve working conditions, and enable our hospital to recruit and retain qualified and experienced staff. We strongly urge HUHN to maintain that relationship with HPAE by respecting and adhering to our union contract, which has set a high level of standards for assuring that our members can provide safe and effective patient care,” said Zahia.