SCRANTON -- Hundreds of nurses took a stand in Scranton on Monday, calling for better working conditions and patient care.
Nurses with Geisinger Community Medical Center picketed outside the hospital on Mulberry Street. They were joined by nurses with Geisinger Wyoming Valley as well as nurses from 20 other hospitals and health care facilities across the commonwealth.
Nurses at Geisinger-CMC are calling on hospital management to settle a fair union contract.
They claim they are overworked and underpaid, and that puts patients at risk.
"There is a lot of unsafe staffing going on here. We lose a lot of nurses because we have a very poor retention rate and they leave. New grads will come work for us, but they leave as soon as they can because the conditions on the floor just aren't what they should be," said Shannon Reichard, Geisinger-CMC nurse.
Geisinger officials tell Newswatch 16 they are continuing to work toward a new agreement.