FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2025
CONTACT: Megan Othersen Gorman / mgorman@pasnap.com / (215) 817-5781
NURSE, TECHS, AND HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS AT TEMPLE UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL SUBMIT 10-DAY STRIKE NOTICES
2,600 CAREGIVERS AT TEMPLE MAIN, TEMPLE WOMEN AND FAMILIES, AND JEANES HOSPITALS NOW PREPPING FOR A STRIKE STARTING AT 7 AM ON MON, OCTOBER 6TH AND ENDING AT 7 AM ON SAT, OCTOBER 11TH
PHILADELPHIA – On Friday, with record numbers of members voting, 98% of Temple University Hospital nurses, techs, and professionals across two PASNAP-represented locals voted to authorize their bargaining committees to call a joint strike if the issues the caregivers have raised in ongoing negotiations – namely, unsafe working conditions, unsafe staffing, and the deep cuts to benefits Temple management is proposing – remain unresolved.
TODAY, 6 days ahead of their contract expirations on September 30th, both locals – the Temple University Hospital Nurses Association (1,600 members) and the Temple University Hospital Allied Health Professionals (1,000 members) – submitted 10-day strike notices, in accordance with Section 8(g) of the National Labor Relations Act.
“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,” says Carlos Aviles, CPhT, a longtime Temple University Hospital Pharmacy Tech and president of the Temple University Hospital Allied Health Professionals.
“By ignoring the concerns of their frontline staff, Temple is risking the lives of patients who come to our hospital,” says Aviles. “We are not going backward – and we will not allow care for our patient community to go backward, either.”
Strike issues for Temple caregivers include:
- Escalating workplace violence, unchecked and often unacknowledged by Temple management: In an internal survey on workplace violence conducted in August 2025 of Temple University Hospital Main Campus RNs, 67% said they had personally experienced workplace violence at Temple Main and 94% said they believe that management has NOT established sufficient and appropriate security measures at Temple Main. Caregivers want and have proposed meaningful protections (see attached Issues Summary), every one of which Temple has rejected.
“Temple needs to do better,” says Angelina Dadalski, RN, a Temple University Hospital ICU Nurse for 7 years. “An incident of workplace violence happens every single day. It’s the norm here. And management’s go-to response is no response. They want us to think that workplace violence is just a part of our jobs. What they’re refusing to hear is that it’s their job to care about our safety and the safety of our patients, and to invest in it.”
- Deep benefits cuts: Temple is proposing cuts to benefits that will effectively take its caregivers backward, proposing dramatically increased costs for caregivers who seek care outside of the Temple system. Frontline caregivers who do not live close to a Temple facility or already have longstanding relationships with doctors outside of the Temple System will see their costs double for services outside of the system.
- Safe staffing: The Temple Women & Families Hospital has opened, and management is relying on the dedication of the caregivers onsite to make things work for themselves and for their patients. Temple must add the necessary staff to ensure Women & Families provides the highest level of care and keeps its vulnerable babies and mothers safe.
“Temple says federal cuts to Medicaid will devastate its balance sheet,” said Marty Harrison, RN, a longtime Temple University Hospital nurse and president of the Temple University Hospital Nurses Association. “But they’re spending tens of millions buying out Holy Redeemer’s share of Chestnut Hill Hospital and tens of millions more opening the new Women and Families Hospital, calling them strategic investments in the future of the institution. Contracts for Temple’s frontline caregivers that prioritize protection and retention are strategic investment number one. We have to be able to retain our skilled experienced staff and recruit new staff to Temple’s flagship hospital here on Broad Street.”
Should a strike occur, nurses, techs, and professionals at Temple Main Hospital and at Temple Women and Families will walk off the job at 7 AM on October 6th. Nurses and techs who work in the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit, Inpatient and Outpatient, at Jeanes Hospital will also strike, starting at 7 AM on October 6th. (This unit used to be housed at Temple Main; the caregivers who work there are part of the TUHNA and TAP contracts.)
ATTACHED:
- Summary of issues
- Letter of support from state senators
- Video of Temple nurses, techs, and professionals delivering strike petitions
TODAY to Abhi Rastogi, President and CEO of Temple University Hospital, and to Temple University Hospital HR. The petitions were signed by 98% of their memberships.
***
Temple University Hospital Nurses Association (TUHNA) and Temple University Hospital Allied Health Professionals (TAP) are affiliates of PASNAP, the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals, which represents more than 11,000 frontline healthcare workers across the commonwealth. PASNAP was founded 25 years ago on the belief that patients do better when frontline caregivers have a voice to advocate for their patients and themselves.
