Temple University Hospital nurses, techs and other healthcare professionals are planning to initiate a five-day strike beginning Oct. 6, unless negotiations advance toward a new collective bargaining agreement.
The Temple University Hospital Nurses Association and Temple Allied Professionals delivered strike notices to hospital leaders and human resources officials Wednesday. Federal labor laws require healthcare worker unions to issue the warnings at least 10 days prior to a work stoppage.
TUHNA and TAP represent more than 2,600 employees, primarily at Temple’s main medical center on North Broad Street and the new Women & Families Hospital in Northwood. The strike would also impact about 40 staffers who are based in the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit at Jeanes Hospital in Burholme.
Union members intend to walk off the job at 7 a.m. Monday, Oct. 6, and return to their duties on the morning of Saturday, Oct. 11, according to TUHNA and TAP representatives.
“This is their last warning to settle this contract with us,” TAP President Carlos Aviles said while delivering the paperwork, in a video shared by the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals.
Both local unions are affiliated with PASNAP, and Megan Othersen Gorman, a spokesperson, told Metro that the short-term strike is being designed to protest alleged unfair labor practices on the part of Temple Health administrators.
A spokesperson for Temple Health, in a statement Wednesday afternoon, said the organization is “disappointed but not surprised” that the strike notices were issued.
“Whether PASNAP strikes or not, we have contingency plans in place to continue to provide our patients and community with uninterrupted, safe, high-quality care,” the statement continued.
Hospital officials said Temple has had to spend more than $1 million on those contingency plans and could have to allocate another $5 million next week for replacement staff.
“That’s millions of dollars that could have gone to our employees or been used to buy needed equipment, but instead it’s going to outsiders,” the management spokesperson told Metro.
In a vote held Sept. 19, 98% of TUHNA and TAP members polled authorized union leaders to call for a work stoppage. Contracts for both unions expire Tuesday, Sept. 30.
Labor leaders have said workplace safety, staff and compensation are important issues that need to be addressed as part of the negotiations.
“All we want is a safe work environment with safe staffing; real security measures and people that can keep us and our patients safe; and wages and benefits that will help retain experienced staff in the hospital,” Aviles said in a statement Wednesday.
