Worker Story: Ian Morris

My name is Ian Morris and I am a Patient Care Technician (PCT) in Prompt Care, which is the Emergency Room, at HMH Jersey Shore University Medical Center. I have been here for three and half years.

I want a union with HPAE because we need HMH to be a better employer and we need a voice on the job so we can fight for a better and safer workplace for ourselves and our patients.

Being a PCT in the Emergency Department is very demanding, in and of itself. And, having to do the job of three people on top of that makes for a more stressful and unsafe work environment.

We are pushing through a global pandemic that has proven very infectious and deadly. Simultaneously, we have been fighting to get adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) to allow us to work safely without getting infected and ending up infecting co-workers, patients and our families and the public. Prior to the pandemic, Jersey Shore took inadequate actions when we were attacked by patients. In the pandemic, we have felt unsafe and not well protected, even as the ground shifted under us daily.

Safe staffing is another critical issue. I want to have safe staffing and be done with skeleton crews on any given shift. Right now, I am often expected to do the job of three people. Except when there is short staffing. Then, I am expected to do the job of four people. For instance, if there’s no transporter, then I am supposed to pick up the slack. Being a transporter or a secretary or a clerk is not part of my job description but it falls on me to do those jobs when people doing those jobs call out. We often cannot even take our legally required breaks because we don’t have enough staff to cover the shift.

I want to belong to a union because that will put me on a path to having a good job, better wages and benefits, and compensation or, at least, acknowledgement when I end up working several positions on a shift. I just want to make Jersey Shore University Medical Center a better hospital and a better place to work. We want to work together. Being part of this Union will help us advocate for each other. We want to be heard.