the Striking nurses Union at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick today met with a federal mediator it's the second mediated negotiation session since the strike began on August 4th and so far the meetings have yet to produce a contract that nurses say meet their requests including a safe Staffing ratio Ted Goldberg has the latest from the picket line why do we want Happ when do we want it now when do we want a contract now the nurses Union at RWJ couldn't agree on a contract with management after 6 hours of meeting with a federal mediator today their strike now stands at 64 days we want to move forward we want to go back to work and we want a contract today we put our families in the middle of this we put our loved ones our friends we put our own finances our own mental health well-being and this is not a decision we made lightly it is not a vacation despite what all of the executives and Robert with Johnson kept saying RWJ Barnabas an underwriter for NJ Spotlight has used replacement nurses over the last two months to cover the 1,700 nurses that are on strike the union says those replacement nurses are earning as much as four times what union nurses make if they would have used the $7,200 a week that they're spending on these scab nurses and invested it in the nurses that have been here for 10 years 15 years 20 years 30 plus years you will attract so many nurses across the state there is no price tag on the kind of care that I've seen these nurses my co-workers give to their patients the difference between having a positive experience in a hospital and a negative one will have resounding effects on that entire patient's life and their families when did hospitals start worrying about uh more more on on the the money than on patients the biggest issue behind this strike is Staffing levels RWJ says those levels for nurses are sufficient while the nurses themselves disagree multiple Studies have demonstrated that the mortality rate of patients go up 7% for each additional patient that is added to the average nurses workload you don't have enough time to assess the patients and make sure that they are safe in response to this story RWJ sent a statement that reads in part the union seems to forget that it made the decision to go out on strike despite the hospital's requests that the parties continue to negotiate Staffing at RWJ University Hospital is not just proper but among the highest in New Jersey in fact the hospital is staffed by 170 more nurses than is called for in the recently proposed Staffing legislation in Trenton that the union claims to support the strike has lasted 9 weeks because the union wants more than any Healthcare organization would ever agree to it's not important just for us as nurses it's important for the community it's important for our families it's important for the future of nursing I hope that the people inside realize that we're out here fighting for safe Staffing and that we are united and we will continue to fight until we get this Fair contract and safe Staffing the union and management also met for 6 hours a few weeks ago that last session produced two offers from RWJ which were rejected by the union continuing a strike that began in early August in Island I'm Ted Goldberg NJ Spotlight News [Music]