the union, which represents 1,500 nurses and other workers at the north philadelphia hospital, is threatening to hold a three-day strike starting oct. 2 if a new contract is not reached by the time the current agreement expires sept. 30
we have worked many hours at the bargaining table, but the hospital seems intent on ignoring the needs of patients and the dedicated staff here at temple," said maureen may, president of the nurses' union. "nobody wants a strike, but we are concerned about the future of patient care and the retention of professional staff."
union officials said the health system wants to increase employee health-care costs and forgo its promise to cover dependents' tuition at temple university. pasnap officials said staffing levels also remain a "serious concern."...
...temple said its nurses are paid "among the highest rates" in the delaware valley, making an average hourly rate of $39.80."
it proposal for the next three years is for no increase in the first year, followed by 2 percent increases in each of the following two years. for allied health professionals, the offer is no increase this year, following by 2 percent increases in the second and third years and 2.5 percent in the fourth....
Specializes in Critical care, tele, Medical-Surgical.
temple nurses strike over work rule, tuition perk
by kathy matheson (ap) – 1 hour ago
philadelphia — hundreds of striking temple university hospital nurses and other employees rallied tuesday in an effort to restart contract negotiations stalled over language that workers say would jeopardize patients, limit free speech and take away a crucial college tuition benefit.
about 1,000 nurses and 500 professional health workers have been picketing the hospital for nearly a week. no new talks are scheduled, and temple has hired about 850 temporary workers to keep the building running….
... the final contract offer, which included raises for both groups, is "fair, reasonable and competitive," ceo sandy gomberg said in an interview monday….
…and a proposed "gag clause," which would restrict union members from publicly criticizing the hospital or its managers, could prevent nurses from advocating for patients or even grumbling about a bad day on their facebook pages, she said.
"to me, that's frightening," may said on monday.
gomberg said the "non-disparagement" language is directed specifically at the pennsylvania association of staff nurses and allied professionals, which represents the nurses and professionals. the association has a history of "disparaging the hospital and its business practices" in union publications and to the media, gomberg said.
nurses will still be expected to voice concerns within the hospital, where gomberg said there are various ways to address concerns about patient care….
Specializes in Critical care, tele, Medical-Surgical.
wednesday, 07 april 2010
temple nurses rally for more contract talks
wednesday is day seven of the nurses strike at temple university hospital. on tuesday, about 500 rallied to urge hospital administrators to go back to the bargaining table....
bill cruice, the executive director of pennsylvania association of staff nurses and allied professionals, addressed the crowd. he says it's costing the hospital about $5 million a week to keep doors open, where it would have cost them under $3 million to settle the contract:
"that's based on outrageous salaries for the strike breakers between $5,000 and $10,000 a week... the putting up of 850 people in fancy hotels in center city... feeding them at the cost of about $50 a day... air transportation from 42 states around the country."
it's been three weeks since both sides sat down at the bargaining table. some of the sticking points include the gag clause and tuition reimbursment for dependants.
The strike is still in progress. no movement from either side. We are asking for safe staffing and management is not budging. BTW, the tuition issue is not free money, we pay taxes on that benefit and only 450 members out of 1500 are using it. The drug testing is not a problem for us,but why only for nursing? We want it hospital wide. Most importantly, we are the patient advocates-the gag clause has got to go. Please know that the last thing any nurse wants to do is strike,but administration refused to negotiate. I believe "you have to stand for something or you don't stand for anything." Just a little side note , the average salary that was quoted by management is for an experienced nurse(20 years),working in a large poverity striken metropolitian hospital, that gets a very very very LARGE amount of state funding.
The strike is still in progress. no movement from either side. We are asking for safe staffing and management is not budging. BTW, the tuition issue is not free money, we pay taxes on that benefit and only 450 members out of 1500 are using it. The drug testing is not a problem for us,but why only for nursing? We want it hospital wide. Most importantly, we are the patient advocates-the gag clause has got to go. Please know that the last thing any nurse wants to do is strike,but administration refused to negotiate. I believe "you have to stand for something or you don't stand for anything." Just a little side note , the average salary that was quoted by management is for an experienced nurse(20 years),working in a large poverity striken metropolitian hospital, that gets a very very very LARGE amount of state funding.
Thanks RNICU and also Herring. . .
Well, it must say something about certain aspects of nursing, b/c I run on the conservative side of things, YET I stand behind you nurses! I hope they work things out soon! Ya know, what they may not be seeing is that if nurses are willing to strike in the midst of this economy--as well as all the hospital hiring freezes, there must be something worthy of serious consideration behind it! Maybe someone will help them to see this.
Do you realize many companies in all industries have lost tuition benefits? If only a few use it, why is it a sticking point to your side? And even though you pay taxes on it, that doesn't make it cost less to your employer.
If your ok with drug testing, who cares who else is getting it? Again, worth striking for?
If the poverty-striken hospital is so great, go work there.
OK, they made a profit last year, so they can afford it. Does that mean when they don't make a profit the union is going to give back wage increases, benefits, tuition, etc.?
"you have to stand for something or you don't stand for anything." - Yet the union exec publicly suggests the hospital should have given in simply because it would have cost them less to do so, and he uses inflated numbers to make his point. So, even that is probably not true.
You are getting a good deal, and putting your patients and employer in jeopardy over insignificant issues. If you all were fired, there would be a line for your jobs the next day. Including most of your fellow picketers once they came to their senses.
I hope the greedy unions stay away from my part of the country!
Cabanaboy , what I can't understand about the attitude you display , is that you think its OK for employers to look after what they portray is their best financial interests , yet it is not OK for the employees to do the same .I can't understand as you and I are most likely employees , why you and people like you identify more with the interests of employers than the interests of other employees .
In this free market economy , as often is pointed out if employees overprice themselves they will eventually lose their jobs and others will take them. If an employer is unprofitable it goes out of business and another will take its place , why not let this happen , instead of worrying about how my actions may effect it .In this case the employer is profitable ( why take from your employees when you are profitable ?) , but for how long ,as they appear to be comfortable wasting their resources in prolonging the strike rather than negotiating .
Would you be happy working for an employer wishes to impose a gag order to limit what you can say re. the conditions within the hospital , if you felt they should be reported .
:rolleyes:to cabanaboy, I can accept the fact that you are not a nurse,so my first response to you is until you have walked in any nurses shoes, please refrain from making judgements:yeah:.Our membership that is striking now,as any nurse will tell you did this only because we were pushed up against a wall. We consist of nurses,dietians,xray techs,lab techs,crna,OR techs, social workers and utilization; just to name a few. My professional team members are aware of the economic times that we are facing which is why this strike is not for monetary gains. Every citizen of the U.S. is guaranteed the first admendment right, so when the Director of Human Resourses tells his employees "if you want your constitutional rights, go somewhere else". things have hit bottom and its time to make a stand. That being said ,Mr. cabanaboy,if you should ever find yourself or loved one in need of nursing services (hospitalized or ill), it is my greatest hope that the nurse caring for you or your loved one is the best patient advocate, and able to speak up and out for you. I would also hope that hospital is staffed safely so as to allow this nurse to give the care that you deserve and require just like the under priveleged. Little side note, approx.50% of the dependents that use the tuition perk attend Temple University, so the money goes right back into the system. No , we aren't asking for a portion of the large profits that were made by the hardworkers as myself and coworkers. We get our portion of the pie everyday, knowing that we are helping to save lives. We are asking for respect and the ability to safely do our jobs that we have dedicated our lives and hearts to. We are asking to be treated fairly and to negotiate a contract that says thank you, we appreciate your knowledge,skills hard work and dedication which in turn allowed our non-profit institution to make a profit.
...additionally, tuh wrote, “we offered fair wage increases to our nurses and allied-health professionals. the union is demanding a 14.5 percent increase for both groups. in today’s economy, their position is unreasonable.
“there is no ‘gag clause,’” the statement continued. “the hospital’s non-disparagement clause is designed to prevent the union from continuing its disparaging attacks on the hospital’s business practices and services. pasnap is well aware of the intent of the clause, which in no way prevents our employees from fulfilling their patient-advocacy obligations. on march 24, the hospital offered to drop its non-disparagement clause in its last, best and final offer in order to reach a settlement. the union leadership rejected that offer.”
jerry silberman, staff representative to the temple nurses, said tuh’s statement was misleading.
“what happened on march 24 was that the mediator asked to talk to us. this was supposed to be an ‘off-the-record’ meeting, where the arbitrator makes an effort to get the parties together. it is not negotiation, which can happen only with our committee, and it’s supposed to stay within the room where the conversation happened. that’s part of the rules of the game of bargaining, like geneva conventions in war, but temple doesn’t respect them,” silberman said.
“what [hospital negotiators] said was, ‘we’ll drop the gag clause if you accept the rest [of] our final offer.’ in other words, another ultimatum, not a bargaining position. we told him that was unacceptable. the conversation ended. it should have stayed there. for temple now to misrepresent it as if they had made an unconditional offer to take it off the table in order to get a bargaining process underway couldn’t be farther from the truth,” he continued.
“their reference to the 14.5 percent wage increase is cynicism at its highest, since the proposal by the union is for a four-year agreement, with those increases spread out as follows 3 percent, 3.5 percent, 4 percent, 4 percent, per year,” silberman added
...negotiators for [color=#234b87]temple university hospital and the union representing striking nurses met with a mediator for a second time this week wednesday, but no contract agreement was reached.
officials from the north philadelphia medical center said the mediator brought a “proffered settlement” to both sides that did not include a nondisparagement clause and that the union, the pennsylvania association of staff nurses and allied professionals, rejected it....
:rolleyes:to cabanaboy, I can accept the fact that you are not a nurse,so my first response to you is until you have walked in any nurses shoes, please refrain from making judgements:yeah:.Our membership that is striking now,as any nurse will tell you did this only because we were pushed up against a wall. We consist of nurses,dietians,xray techs,lab techs,crna,OR techs, social workers and utilization; just to name a few. My professional team members are aware of the economic times that we are facing which is why this strike is not for monetary gains. Every citizen of the U.S. is guaranteed the first admendment right, so when the Director of Human Resourses tells his employees "if you want your constitutional rights, go somewhere else". things have hit bottom and its time to make a stand. That being said ,Mr. cabanaboy,if you should ever find yourself or loved one in need of nursing services (hospitalized or ill), it is my greatest hope that the nurse caring for you or your loved one is the best patient advocate, and able to speak up and out for you. I would also hope that hospital is staffed safely so as to allow this nurse to give the care that you deserve and require just like the under priveleged. Little side note, approx.50% of the dependents that use the tuition perk attend Temple University, so the money goes right back into the system. No , we aren't asking for a portion of the large profits that were made by the hardworkers as myself and coworkers. We get our portion of the pie everyday, knowing that we are helping to save lives. We are asking for respect and the ability to safely do our jobs that we have dedicated our lives and hearts to. We are asking to be treated fairly and to negotiate a contract that says thank you, we appreciate your knowledge,skills hard work and dedication which in turn allowed our non-profit institution to make a profit.
I am a nurse soon-to-be. My wife is an RN. And I have almost 20 years work experience that includes union and non-union jobs, as well as management. I have worked for places that didn't treat their employees right. In most cases I was part of the improvement process. In other cases, I left. Those places usually aren't very successful. Between my wife as a RN and me as a student, we have spent time in many hospitals in the area. The ones who have the best reps and best patient satisfaction and thus the best "business" also seem to have the happiest employees. I found this to be true in my other careers as well. This isn't a coincidence. The hospital (or business) works with the employees to make it happen. I believe with a union, an adversary relationship naturally exists. It doesn't take a union to have a happy and safe work life. Whatever benefits you gain you are giving up somewhere else.
I still haven't seen anywhere about the specifics of what "safe staffing" is. I might buy into that argument if I could see what they mean. However, going on strike certainly doesn't portray that you are taking a stand for the safe care of your patients.
I think you are being overly dramatic about the first amendment right. It is arguable whether they are infringing on it or not. Regardless, it seems that there are more constructive ways to voice your concerns other then doing it publicly in the press. Realisticly, it would be dumb to publicly disbarrage your employer even if there was no rule against it. It probably wouldn't do much good, and they really wanted to disclipline you for that they would just find other reasons to do it. Again, hardly an issue to strike over. It sounds like they offered to eliminate that anyway.
A 3.5 to 4% raise evey year for the next 4 years? Before nursing school, I think I 3 was the MOST I got, and some years ZERO. And yes, I was a good employee. 90% of the country would be satisfied with that deal.
I didn't realize until after I posted above that the tuition benefit was for your children. Seriously? You believe that is something the hospital owes you?
We are asking for safe staffing and management is not budging. BTW, the tuition issue is not free money, we pay taxes on that benefit and only 450 members out of 1500 are using it. The drug testing is not a problem for us,but why only for nursing? We want it hospital wide. Most importantly, we are the patient advocates-the gag clause has got to go. Please know that the last thing any nurse wants to do is strike,but administration refused to negotiate. I believe "you have to stand for something or you don't stand for anything." Just a little side note , the average salary that was quoted by management is for an experienced nurse(20 years),working in a large poverity striken metropolitian hospital, that gets a very very very LARGE amount of state funding.
No , we aren't asking for a portion of the large profits that were made by the hardworkers as myself and coworkers. We get our portion of the pie everyday, knowing that we are helping to save lives. We are asking for respect and the ability to safely do our jobs that we have dedicated our lives and hearts to. We are asking to be treated fairly and to negotiate a contract that says thank you, we appreciate your knowledge,skills hard work and dedication which in turn allowed our non-profit institution to make a profit.
Mindful, RN
306 Posts
Temple health care workers strike for dignity, patient care................
:yeah:
http://www.peoplesworld.org/temple-health-care-workers-strike-for-dignity-patient-care/