500-PLUS TEMPLE HEALTH EMPLOYEES AT TWO SATELLITE CAMPUSES RATIFY THEIR FIRST UNION CONTRACTS, EACH MORE THAN A YEAR IN THE MAKING

PHILADELPHIA – Within two weeks of threatening concurrent July 4th strikes, 265 nurses and 77 techs at Temple Health-owned Chestnut Hill Hospital and 190 techs and professionals at sister facility Jeanes Hospital voted overwhelmingly, in separate elections, to ratify their first Union contracts.

The Chestnut Hill Hospital nurses’ vote, which concluded at 8 PM on Friday, was a decisive 96% in favor of ratification of their three-year contract. The Chestnut Hill Hospital techs’ vote, which also concluded at 8 PM on Friday, was an overwhelming 98% in favor of ratifying their three-year contract.

The Jeanes Hospital techs and professionals’ vote was concluded at 8 PM on June 20TH. Their vote was also overwhelmingly in favor of ratification of their three-year contract.At the core of all three negotiations were the same concerns: retention of skilled professionals and wages and working conditions to attract new hires to the bedside to enhance patient care.

“When hospitals struggle to recruit and retain healthcare workers, it’s patients who feel the consequences,” says PASNAP President Maureen May, R.N., a longtime NICU nurse at Temple University Hospital and fellow Temple Health caregiver. “When we invest in caregivers, we are directly investing in the quality of care our patients receive.”

All three contracts include:

The establishment of a new, fair and equitable wage scale that includes steps for experience and guaranteed across-the-board increases every year of the contract. Employees who are below the wage scale will be brought up; those at Chestnut Hill who are receiving additional pay (or, what the hospital calls “adder” pay, instituted during COVID for caregivers in some of the most the most critically understaffed areas of the hospital such as the ICU, the emergency department, the operating room and procedural areas) and are above the wage scale will receive smaller annual raises until the wage scale catches up to them. No employees will take a pay cut.
A ratification bonus: Full-time employees will receive a $1,000 – $1,250 ratification bonus, depending on the facility; part-time employees will receive $500 – $625.
Parental leave: Employees will receive one week of paid parental leave, equal to what employees at Temple Main and Temple Health-owned Fox Chase Cancer Center receive.
Establishment of Joint Practice Committees for all three locals to give the healthcare workers a voice and a seat at the table. The Committees will each be composed of 5 workers and 5 managers, and will meet monthly to discuss improving professional practice and patient care.
Establishment of a Health and Safety Committee to meet quarterly to give the workers a seat at the table.
One week of paid leave for employees who are victims of workplace violence.

For the nurses at Chestnut Hill Hospital:

Staffing guidelines by unit, to be posted on the unit. The hospital agreed to continue incentive payments to encourage nurses to pick up extra shifts when the number of nurses on the unit falls below the staffing guidelines.
Case managers will now be credited for all their years of nursing experience.

“I’m excited to move forward with safe staffing and better wages to keep my colleagues right here at Chestnut Hill Hospital and to attract new people to our team and our patient community,” said Radiology Tech Dawn Verrecchio, a 19-year veteran of the hospital, at the ratification vote on Friday. “This is exactly what we organized for — for our patients and our hospital staff.”

“I’m incredibly proud to have been a part of this effort on behalf of my colleagues and our wonderful patients,” said Jeanes Hospital Radiology Technologist Emily Raynor at the ratification vote. “Our contract is an excellent first step toward what we all deserve.”

“It took 18 long months after we unionized to get here,” said Kadena Smith-Fleming, RN, LPN, at the Chestnut Hill ratification vote, “but for what it means for our patients and each other, it was worth it!”

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Chestnut Hill Hospital Nurses and Techs United and Jeanes Hospital Professionals and Techs United are affiliates of PASNAP, the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals, which represents more than 11,000 frontline nurses and allied professionals across Pennsylvania, including more than 3,500 in the Temple Health system. PASNAP was founded 25 years ago on the belief that patients do better when critical care staff have a voice to advocate for their patients and themselves.