Early last month, Pottstown Memorial Medical Center nurses voted to become members of the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals, writes John George for the Philadelphia Business Journal.

Nurses Lori Domin and Rebecca Malfaro were among the 189 professionals who voted affirmatively.

“Medicine has changed so much,” said Domin, a hospital nurse for nearly three decades. “It’s no longer patient-focused. We have a lot of issues with the hospital’s management, and we just felt we needed to stand up for ourselves.”

Malfaro, whose nursing career started four years ago, said that for her it was important to take care of these important issues now, as she has another 30 years of work ahead of her.

Bill Cruice, executive director of PASNAP, said that this year brought a 68-percent surge to the union’s membership, due primarily to increasing dissatisfaction in areas such as staffing, patient care, wages, and pensions.

“Nurses have to do anything and everything in a hospital,” Cruice said.

Management of Pottstown Memorial declined to comment, saying only that the hospital is “committed to continuing in a productive, mutually beneficial, and respectful relationship with all of our employees.”

Read more about the reasons for unionization in the Philadelphia Business Journal by clicking here.