10-30-07, 9:31 am

Nurses in Kentucky and West Virginia have been on strike for nearly a month. Please take action by contacting the President/CEO of the Appalachian Regional Health Systems and telling him to negotiate a fair contract with the nurses.



More than 630 nurses in Kentucky and West Virginia had their pay cut by 10% by the Appalachian Regional Health system in December 2005. A case was arbitrated and nurses were upheld in their grievance but the company refused to adhere to the arbitrator’s ruling and appealed to federal court.

The Kentucky Nurses Association, which has represented nine Appalachian Regional Hospitals since the 1970s after purchasing them from the United Mine Workers, is on strike because of the negative treatment of nurses by ARH management and allowing and promoting unsafe staffing for patients.

The UMW built the hospitals to care for their own in their local communities and to support unionism. Those who pay benefits need to know that there are not sufficient nurses to care for their members and that the ARH is trying to force the nurses to strike.

- nurses have been on strike for almost a month - hospital administrators refuse to address pay raises, mandatory overtime, and staffing ratios with the nurses - replacement nurses have already been hired by the hospital administration.