Workers went on strike on Friday, Sept. 2, 2022 at The Gardens at Memory Care Easton, 500 Washington St., in Easton. Workers claim their employers continue to bargain in bad faith. The rally was to showcase and highlight some issues. The Gardens at Easton workers belong to SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania. (Monica Cabrera/The Morning Call)

Hundreds of striking nurses paused picketing on Friday as their union reached a tentative contract agreement with 13 of 14 nursing homes across Pennsylvania.

After reaching agreement with Comprehensive Healthcare on Thursday, SEUI Healthcare Pennsylvania announced Friday that bargainers had come to terms with a second operator, Priority Healthcare.

Contract details were not released pending ratification votes.

A total of about 700 unionized workers at 14 nursing homes statewide — including Gardens for Memory Care at Easton in the Lehigh Valley and The Meadows at Stroud in East Stroudsburg — went on strike Sept. 2 in a dispute over pay, benefits and staffing levels.

Striking workers at independently owned Shenandoah Heights nursing home in Schuylkill County have yet to settle their contract. The Easton facility is owned by Maybrook-P Easton Opco LLC of Lawrence, New York, state Department of Health records show.

Kyle G. Newfeld, administrator at The Gardens, said Sept. 2 that about 130 employees work at the 115-bed facility. He also said The Gardens was fully staffed and providing appropriate care to residents.

The union has staked a claim on hundreds of millions of dollars in new state and federal funding for nursing homes. A trade group representing for-profit nursing homes has noted that the newly increased Medicaid reimbursements do not kick in until January, and the other aid has not yet been distributed.

Nursing homes have long struggled with staff turnover, which has worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Morning Call staff contributed to this report.