By: Molly McVety
The workers’ unions are demanding their new deals address workplace safety concerns and staffing issues at the new Women and Families Hospital.
UPDATE (9/29/25): As of Friday, Temple University Hospital Nurses Association and the Temple University Hospital Allied Health Professionals temporarily delayed the start of their joint strike to Monday, Oct. 13.
The original story is below.
About 2,600 Temple Health nurses and technicians plan to hold a five-day strike beginning at 7 a.m. Monday, Oct. 6, unless the health care system meets their contract demands.
The Temple University Hospital Nurses Association and Temple Allied Professionals delivered 10-day strike notices to Temple Health executives Wednesday. The work stoppage would affect Temple University Hospital, Temple Women and Families Hospital and the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit at Jeanes Hospital. It would end at 7 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 11.
The unions’ contracts expire Sept. 30. Federal law requires that health care workers provide a 10-day notice before going on strike.
Temple Health called the strike notices a “disappointing” development.
The unions are members of the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals. TUHNA represents 1,600 nurses; TAP represents 1,000 other medical professionals.
The unions’ top demand is improvements to workplace safety. An internal survey conducted by PASNAP found that two-thirds of respondents reported experiencing workplace violence at Temple University Hospital, and 94% said they believe management has not established sufficient and appropriate security measures.
The unions also cited concerns about staffing levels at the recently-opened Temple Women and Families Hospital and said Temple has proposed “dramatically increased” health care costs for employees who seek care outside of Temple’s health system.
“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,” TUHNA President Carlos Aviles, a pharmacy technician at Temple University Hospital, said in a statement. “By ignoring the concerns of their frontline staff, Temple is risking the lives of patients who come to our hospital. We are not going backward and we will not allow care for our patient community to go backward, either.”
Jeremy Walter, director of media relations with Temple Health, said in a statement that the health care system is committed to continuing negotiations, and that contingency plans are in place to continue regular care at the hospitals in the event of a strike. He also raised concerns about the potential costs of a work stoppage.
“We are disappointed but not surprised that PASNAP has provided a 10-day strike notice,” the statement said. “So far, these contingency plans have cost more than $1 million. Next week, we will have to pay another $5 million for contingency staffing. 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.”
Negotiations are expected to continue Friday evening, 6ABC reported.
