Nurses at Chestnut Hill Hospital, Philladelphia, PA are threatening to strike over contract negotiations with Temple Health

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

Philadelphia Inquirer 4/17/25

Nurses at Chestnut Hill Hospital are threatening to strike over contract negotiations with Temple Health

This will be Chestnut Hill staff's first contract with the health system after they unionized in 2023.

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Unionized nurses and medical technicians at Chestnut Hill Hospital said at a news conference Wednesday that Temple Health, which owns a majority stake in the hospital, is not bargaining in good faith as staff seek to sign their first contract with the health system.

Unions representing nurses and techs at Chestnut Hill and techs at Temple University Hospital-Jeanes Campus, part of the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals, voted earlier this month to authorize a strike if contract negotiations break down....

One of the union's primary concerns at Chestnut Hill is keeping an adequate level of staffing at the hospital, said James Smith, an ICU nurse who has also participated in bargaining sessions.

He criticized the hospital's recent approach to the typical rise and fall of patient populations. Over the past several weeks, he said, one nurse has cared for two patients apiece in the ICU, a ratio that nursing unions have long advocated for. But for the last few days, an influx of new patients means ICU nurses are caring for three patients at a time, he said, giving them less time to monitor critically ill patients.

Instead of hiring more full-time nurses, he said, Temple Health has hired travel nurses, who work temporary shifts in hospitals for weeks or months at a time, offering higher pay than Chestnut Hill's full-time staff....