Will the third time be the charm for striking nurses in West Virginia and Kentucky? Thanks to a ruling by a federal appeals court, Appalachian Regional Healthcare will have to pay the picketing nurses more than $3 million in back pay. This is the third ruling saying so, as ARH keeps appealing the decisions. The court said that when the healthcare company cut nurses' hourly wages they broke an older contract. The nearly 700 nurses are members of the United American Nurses and are spending their 12th week on the picket lines while permanent replacement workers do their jobs in the hospital, living in an empty hospital wings. They are striking nine facilities in Kentucky and West Virginia and are seeking a commitment for better patient care from ARH.