Nurses seek to unionize at nursing home in North Jersey

More than 40 nurses are petitioning federal officials to unionize at a 245bed nursing home along the Hudson River in North Jersey, saying they want to push for better staffing, union officials said Monday.

The nurses at Complete Care at The Harborage in North Bergen are seeking permission from the National Labor Relations Board to hold a vote to join the Health Professionals and Allied Employees union.

“Having a voice will allow us to not feel so burnt out and fed up,” said Yasmine Peralta, a nurse who has worked at the facility for 13 years. “We can come to work with pride and feel like we made a difference in our patients’ lives and that we matter as well.”

The Harborage, adjacent to Palisades Medical Center, was sold along with other Hackensack Meridian nursing homes last year to Complete Care of Toms River, one of the fastest-growing nursing home chains in New Jersey.

Yitz Rubin, the administrator at The Harborage, said the facility offers top care and the company pays its employees a competitive salary, including health and benefit plans.

“Since we took over this year, we have significantly expanded the number of patient-facing staff, which exceeds state standards,” he said. A spokesperson did not respond to a request for the exact increase in patientfacing staff.

Struggling to keep staff

Nursing homes across New Jersey and the nation have struggled to retain and recruit employees after the devastation that COVID-19 inflicted on facilities.

About 9,400 nursing home residents and 143 staff members in New Jersey died from COVID, with the vast majority succumbing to the virus during the initial outbreak in 2020. As of last week, 243 nursing residents have died from COVID-19 in 2023 out of 10,734 who have been infected, the latest state data shows. No staff members have died from the virus since 2021.

The Harborage is one of several hundred nursing homes that have an active outbreak of COVID. It had eight residents and two staff members infected as of Nov. 14, the latest state records show.

More than 120 workers at The Harborage — including certified nursing assistants, housekeepers and others — are already members of HPAE.

HPAE President Debbie White said the 40 nurses hope to bargain for better staffing standards at the facility so they can “adequately care for their patients.”

The Harborage was fined almost $30,000 three years ago by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration for failing to give its nursing staff the proper masks to wear while treating COVID-19 residents near the height of the pandemic.