PASNAP, March 31, 2010 A strike by the 1500 nurses, healthcare professional and technical employees at Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia began on Wednesday, March 31, 7:00 AM, after months of bad faith negotiations by the hospital. The employees have been without a contract since its expiration on September 30, 2009, and rulings by the Pennsylvania Labor Board have demonstrated that the hospital has engaged in unfair labor practices. Maureen May, RN, and president of the nurses' union at Temple, reports, "Despite good faith negotiations on the part of the Union that represents the nurses and professionals at Temple Administrators have clung to their unreasonable 'best and final offer.' ... " Strike

Taunya English, WHYY, March 31st, 2010 Temple University Hospital says it will remain open, even if nurses strike. The nurses union says it will rally in front of the hospital on North Broad at noon. Sandy Gomberg is CEO of the hospital. She says Temple will continue to provide all levels of care and there should be no need to divert patients to area hospitals. Temple has hired about 800 temporary workers. Gomberg says they are ready to work. ... Nurses

KYW, March 31, 2010 The strike for nurses and staff at Temple hospital began at 7 on Wednesday morning. About 1,500 employees walked off the job in hopes of obtaining better pay and benefits. ... [A]bout 1500 nurses and other health professionals are on strike against Temple Hospital and a good number of them showed up for a noon hour rally that blocked North Broad Street for a time. "Put your hand over your mouths. You are now silenced by the gag clause." While another speaker said her people wanted and deserved more money, nurses association head Maureen May, directed her ire at that gag clause she mentioned: "This is about principle! This is about breaking a power that speaks for the patients." ... Temple

Marty Harrison, RN, Labor Notes, March 30, 2010 Health care workers at Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia are readying to strike Wednesday, holding out against demands to give up free-speech rights, explode health care costs, and hobble the union's power. With administrators trying to muzzle members and pledging to spend freely on scabs, health care workers at Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia are readying to strike Wednesday. The hospital’s 1,000 nurses and 500 professional workers, members of PASNAP (Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals), have been working without a contract for six months. ... Philadelphia

PASNAP, March 26, 2010 Approximately 350 nurses and healthcare professionals represented by PASNAP rallied outside of the hospital on Friday, March 26, to send a message to Temple administrators that fair negotiations need to commence so that a reasonable contract agreement may be reached before the March 31st strike deadline. The nurses and professionals have been without a contract since October 2009. ... Nurses

Lynne Adkins, KYW, March 26, 2010 More than 100 nurses rallied on Friday afternoon outside Temple University's main hospital on North Broad Street in support of a fair contract. Shouting "shame" on the hospital administration, the nurses called for management to return to the bargaining table and talk about the issues - such as health care, staffing levels, and a proposed "gag" order. William Cruice, the union's chief negotiator, explains that proposal, which management refers to as an "anti-disparagement" clause ... Temple

Stacey Burling, Philadelphia Inquirer, March 26, 2010 The sabers are rattling on North Broad Street as Temple University Hospital and 1,500 of its employees prepare for a strike that could start Wednesday morning. Both sides are running radio ads touting their positions, and the hospital has hired 850 temporary workers from around the country. The workers are arriving for orientation, said Sandy Gomberg, the hospital's chief executive officer. The union says many of its members have second jobs that will carry them through a strike. It offers a letter from 19 state House members urging Temple to "bargain in good faith" and highlighting the cost of operating during a strike. ... Temple

Suzanne Monaghan, KYW, March 23, 2010 A nurses strike is on the horizon at Temple Hospital in North Philadelphia and the union representing the health care providers says despite the March 31st deadline, negotiations are at a stand still. As things stand now, it looks as if 1,500 nurses and health care professionals at Temple Hospital will go on strike at the end of the month.  That's according to Bill Cruice, executive director of the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals: "We're very concerned that Temple's goal is actually to provoke a strike based on their demeanor in negotiations, based on the proposals that they've made." ... Temple

Doug Cunningham, Workers Independent News, March 22, 2010 Fifteen hundred members of the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses And Allied Professionals have set a strike deadline of March 31st at Temple University Hospital. The nurses have been without a contract since September. The union says management has no intention of good-faith negotiating. Among the issues to be resolved are wages, nurse-patient staffing ratios and benefits. Also at issue: a management demand that it control what nurses and members of the union say publicly about hospital management. © 2005-2009 Workers Independent News, all rights reserved.

Christopher K. Hepp & Jane M. Von Bergen, Philadelphia Inquirer, March 20, 2010

Nurses at Temple University Hospital have set a March 31 strike deadline if progress is not made in their contract talks with the hospital.

The nurses and other health-care professionals at the hospital, who are represented by the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals (PASNAP), have been working without a contract since September.

They are at odds over wages, benefits, staffing ratios, and a provision the hospital is demanding that would limit what the union and its members could say publicly about management and hospital staff.

Alex Rose, Delaware County Daily Times, February 4, 2010 Nurses at Fair Acres Geriatric Center ratified a new contract Wednesday night that requires the administration to create at least 14 12-hour positions, allows for flexibility in scheduling and implements a new seniority system, according to a release from the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals. About 90 percent of the approximately 120 union members present voted for the contract, which covers about 190 employees, according to PASNAP Executive Director Bill Cruice. “The bargaining committee is very proud of the contract,” said Cruice. ... Fair

Alex Rose, Delaware County Daily Times, January 27, 2010 Nurses at the Fair Acres Geriatric Center Tuesday asked Delaware County Council to find a way to increase their wages amid a countywide pay freeze and to increase staffing levels at the Middletown facility. “We feel that our nurses work very hard and we take care of our residents every day and we really want to get a raise somehow,” said Angela Cottman, a Fair Acres nurse. Nurses and other health care professionals at Fair Acres voted in favor of forming a union in June and are currently negotiating a contract with the county. Wage increases and staffing concerns were routinely cited as prime motivators to organize ... Fair

Kitty Caparella, Philadelphia Daily News, January 25, 2010 Tuition reimbursement was reinstated for the children of 1,500 unionized nurses and health-care professionals at the Temple University Health System by the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board last week. About 150 members, whose dependents had been using the benefit, should be reimbursed about $1 million, said Bill Cruice, chief negotiator for the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals. Michael Horvitz, 59, an emergency-room nurse for 20 years, said that he had used the benefit to enhance his nursing education and that now his learning-disabled son planned to use it for his education. ... Temple

Diane Mastrull, Philadelphia Inquirer, January 25, 2010 The Temple University Health System had no right to phase out a long-standing policy, of paying for the children of hospital employees to attend the school, without first bargaining with the union over the issue, the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board has determined. The ruling requires Temple to reinstate the tuition policy it changed in March and reimburse about 150 nurses and other professional staff. Each is owed between $7,000 and $15,000, depending on whether the individual lives in Pennsylvania or out of state, said Bill Cruice, executive director of the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals (PASNAP) ... Labor

John George, Philadelphia Business Journal, January 25, 2010 The full Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board has affirmed a decision that found Temple University engaged in bad faith bargaining by discontinuing a tuition benefit for the dependents of Temple University Hospital nurses and other professional staff. Temple said Monday it plans to appeal the ruling, which followed an earlier ruling by a PLRB panel. The Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals, which represents 1,500 registered nurses and professional staff at the hospital in North Philadelphia, filed a complaint last year saying Temple eliminated the “decades-old” reimbursement policy ... Labor