Nurses, technical staff and other employees at Temple University Hospital have approved a three-year labor contract, averting a potential strike that was supposed to begin Monday.
The agreement caps a tumultuous period of negotiations between the Temple University Hospital Nurses Association and Temple Allied Professionals, which collectively represent more than 2,600 employees, and hospital administrators.
Over the past month or so, TUHNA and TAP organized an information picket, issued multiple strike deadlines and publicly questioned the health system’s recent multimillion-dollar investments in expansion.
“These contracts are wins for every nurse, tech, and healthcare professional at Temple – and for every patient who comes through our doors,” said Maureen May, a Temple nurse and president of the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals, which is affiliated with both local unions.
“We are the ones who every day, a thousand times a day, give these patients what they need,” added TUHNA President Marty Harrison. “The public and our elected officials were behind us because they know that’s what we do, and they trust us to hold our ground and to make sure we have the staff, the equipment, and the supplies to take good care of every human life, no matter what zip code they were born in.”
If the unions had moved ahead with their planned five-day strike, Temple Health would have had to pay $5 million to nursing staff to keep their medical centers open, officials have said. A work stoppage would have primarily affected the health system’s main hospital in North Philadelphia and the newly opened Women & Families Hospital in Northwood.
“This agreement reflects a mutual commitment to a constructive negotiations process and to achieving terms that are fair and equitable for all parties,” a Temple Health spokesperson said in a statement. “It further recognizes the extraordinary efforts of our employees and supports Temple Health’s mission to provide safe, high-quality care to the patients and communities we serve.”
A contract ratification vote was held Friday, during which 87% of TUHNA members and 90% of TAP participants elected to approve the deal, according to PASNAP.
Over the course of the deal, nurses, techs and other staff will see a pay increase of 9.5%, with the potential for more due to step increases, union representatives said. The agreement also incorporates $1,000 bonuses for full-time employees and $500 for part-time staff, PASNAP officials added.
Enhancing workplace safety was a priority for TUHNA and TAP, and union leadership said the new contract contains provisions to keep Temple Health accountable. Under the collective bargaining agreement, weapons detectors must be installed at the Women & Families Hospital within 120 days, and at least two trained security personnel must be on duty at all times, according to PASNAP.
Temple Health also committed to boosting staffing levels at the Women & Families Hospital, union officials said.
Signs of progress toward a deal emerged Sept. 26, when TUHNA and TAP pushed back their initial strike date of Oct. 6, after they said hospital administrators took proposed healthcare benefit cuts off the table.
Federal labor laws require unions representing employees at medical facilities to provide 10 days notice of a strike, and TUHNA and TAP refiled that paperwork for a work stoppage beginning Oct. 13.
Collective bargaining agreements for both unions expired Sept. 30.
