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PASNAP VIRTUAL HOUSE OF DELEGATES 2021 To hear Sara Nelson’s full and inspiring Plenary Speech on Labor Solidarity and the Lessons of COVID, click here

CRITICAL UPDATE Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses & Allied Professionals

June 2021

PASNAP 2021 House of Delegates

In a nod to PASNAP 2021 House of Delegates Plenary Speaker Sara Nelson’s exhilarating and emotional speech, we fought forward with a 100% digital format, complete with excellent workshops, advice, solidarity and inspiration. This year’s House of Delegates celebrated the triumph that resilient PASNAP members forged in contract negotiations over an excruciating year. We used the COVID crisis to address—through media stories, in sit-downs with elected officials and via Zoom meetings with the boss—what is actually happening in our hospitals and to make real, long-sought-after gains. House of Delegates Plenary Speaker Sara Nelson, International President of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO, spoke very emotionally about using crisis to amplify our voices and our influence, to fight forward.

“The corporate elite will take any crisis and turn it to their benefit,” said Sara, who became a union member 25 years ago when she was hired as a United Airlines flight attendant; today, she represents nearly 50,000 of aviation’s first responders at 17 airlines. ”We saw this after 9/11, so we were prepared for COVID.”

In March of 2020, air travel was largely verboten, and the airline industry was on the verge of collapse. Using their tremendous leverage in that singular moment, the Association of Flight Attendants fought to make sure that any federal relief for the industry flowed through them--that it went to payroll and benefits for airline “It doesn’t matter what the action is. workers, not into corporate Management just needs to know that we coffers. And they won.

can and will act at any time. AS ONE.”

—Sara Nelson

“We recognize ahead of time that the corporate elite are always

going to use a crisis to their benefit, so we know we have to be organized, unified and mobilized—ready to take action,” she said. “It doesn’t matter what the action is. Management just needs to know that we can and will act at any time. As one.” Striking is our tactic, she said—solidarity is our power. “Picture one of your coworkers and say to them, I’ve got your back,” she said. “Then picture the person who checks you out at the grocery store, and say I’ve got your back. And picture the person who takes your bag at the airport, and say I’ve got your back. We are on the side that stands together. That’s what has helped us win. It’s what’s going to allow us to win going forward. And I know that we will win—together. Solidarity forever!”

2021 House of Delegates: Workshop Wisdom MISSED THE 2021 HOUSE OF DELEGATES? You can check out a broad sampling of the HOD workshops on our website—and get a taste for the sessions and the practice wisdom they provided in these HOD how to’s.

Caring for the LGBTQIA+ Patient

“Increasing your awareness of LGBTQIA+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual and other sexual and gender minorities) patients will help you provide the best possible care,” says Chad Newton, a registered nurse at Temple University Hospital and author of The COVID Nurse Experience and 75 Mostly Gay Poems. He led the HOD workshop Caring for the LGBTQIA+ Patient. “Create a welcoming environment for LGBTQIA+ patients by prominently displaying nondiscrimination policies, pink triangles, rainbow flags and by having gender-neutral restrooms. And become familiar with terms such as gender fluid and transgendered, which can be useful in the clinical setting. Check out this article for additional tips.” PASNAP CRITICAL UPDATE

Dealing with Difficult People

“Be strategic—don’t let the other person draw you into their game,” says Anita Foeman, Ph.D., Professor of Communication and Media at West Chester University in Pennsylvania. She and therapist Nate Terrell, LCSW, led the HOD workshop Dealing with Difficult People. “If you have a conflict that you feel you managed poorly, you can probably count on the same situation happening again. So plan ahead for it and do better the next time. The goal is to develop honest relationships where you can talk about issues, gain perspective and strategize.”

Running Successful LaborManagement Meetings

“The key to running successful labor-management meetings is building leverage so you can make management do what it really doesn’t want to do,” says Bill Barry, a longtime union organizer, the former Director of Labor Studies at the Community College of Baltimore County and leader of the HOD workshop Running Successful LaborManagement Meetings. “Involving every member, in person or in spirit, can make this happen, whether the meeting’s a contract negotiation, a grievance or a regular labormanagement meeting. Membership participation is fundamental.”

Improving Patient Care Through Legislation

“Pennsylvania needs safe staffing to protect both frontline healthcare professionals and our patients,” says Tarik Khan, president of the Pennsylvania State Nurses Association and leader of the HOD workshop The Patient Safety Act: Improving Patient Care Through Legislation. “That’s why the Patient Safety Act (PA House Bill 106/ Senate Bill 240) would be the most consequential legislation ever passed in PA for nurses and patients. Lead on this. Call your state representative and senator and urge them to ‘cosponsor’ this bill!” For more info, on the bill and its context, see pages 4 and 10.

Just Culture: Patient Care, Workplace Justice

“If you have Just Culture in your hospital and you’re challenging unfair discipline against members, talk to fellow union leaders, including in other areas, and seek out any informal/nondisciplinary coachings that management may have issued to other nurses or techs,” says PASNAP outside legal counsel John CampbellOrde, who led the HOD Just Culture workshop with PASNAP President Maureen May. “Management often applies Just Culture selectively, and since they may not provide nondisciplinary coachings in response to standard information requests, these documents or emails can help highlight how Just Culture should be applied.”

2021 House of Delegates: Workshop Wisdom

Learn Your Strength: Political Action/Legislative How To

“Don’t be afraid to engage— politicians are just people, too,” says Selena Hodge, Political and Community Action Chair for TAP and an At-Large Member of PASNAP’s Executive Board. She, Carla Le’coin, Political and Community Action Chair for ENU and a new At-Large Member of PASNAP’s E-Board, and longtime PASNAP staff representative Jerry Silberman led the HOD workshop Political Action/Legislative How To. “Practice makes perfect—start today, tailoring the work to suit your passions. To find out who your representatives are at every level, go here.”

Worker’s Compensation & Social Security Disability— What Healthcare Workers Need to Know

“Whenever you are injured on the job—no matter how minor you may think the injury is—REPORT IT TO YOUR SUPERVISOR IMMEDIATELY,” urged Jerry Lehocky, partner at Pond Lehocky, the largest workers’ compensation and Social Security disability law firm in our region, and leader of the HOD workshop on worker’s compensation and Social Security Disability. “And make sure an injury report is completed.” For tips on giving notice, check out this video by Pond Lehocky Managing Partner Sam Pond: Sam Pond’s tips on giving notice (video)

PASNAP CRITICAL UPDATE

Profits Before Patients

“The massive profits in the healthcare industry have attracted a new generation of business execs with no knowledge of, interest in or connection to our work providing patient care,” says TUHNA VP Marty Harrison who, with PASNAP’s Strategic Researcher Matthew Cunningham-Cook, led the HOD workshop Profits Before Patients. “Instead, they are experts in ‘lean production,’ just-in-time logistics, asset stripping real estate deals, debt leveraging and other business models that are incompatible with providing healthcare as a human right. The more we understand and expose their rotten underbelly, the better we can design our campaigns to fight back for safe staffing, union rights and better working conditions.”

Using Social Media to Build Your Local

“Building relationships or connections inside and outside of a local is the key to creating a strong network of support, especially when the need for a call to action arises,” said PASNAP staff rep Obafemi Matti, who, with PASNAP Communications Specialist Megan Othersen Gorman, led the HOD workshop Using Social Media to Build Your Local. “If the relationships are already in place and have been nurtured via social media— Facebook is perfect for this—it will be much more reasonable to have an expectation that people will carry out the action.”

Just Cause and Representing Members in Investigatory Meetings

“When representing a member in an investigatory meeting, always remember to bring a notebook and an ink pen to take notes,” said Phyllis Brown, Member-At-Large on both the TUHNA Executive Board and PASNAP’s Executive Board. She and PASNAP Regional Director Bill Zoda led the HOD workshop Just Cause and Representing Members in Investigatory Meetings. “Talk with the member privately prior to the meeting to find out if they have any idea of what the meeting is about, and remember, you can caucus with the member at any time during the meeting if you feel there is a need.”

Message from PASNAP President Maureen May, RN Dear PASNAP members, Nurses are the lifeblood of our healthcare system and the key to patient safety. We represent the largest segment of the healthcare workforce in the U.S.—nearly 30 percent. And still there are not enough of us at the bedside. This is a conscious decision. It doesn’t matter whether the hospital is for-profit or nonprofit, nurses are always asked to do more with less. Conglomerates like to run their hospitals lean to save money. They assign as many patients as they can get away with to individual nurses, and we end up being spread dangerously thin. Patient care suffers and nurses suffer in many documented, measurable ways. You know this—you’ve lived it. And the issue is not new. Researchers have been studying and documenting the dangerous effects of short staffing for many years, and PASNAP has been fighting for enforceable safe staffing ratios at our hospitals since our

inception in 2000. What’s new is the COVID-19 pandemic and the influx of very ill patients it precipitated, intensifying the short-staffing crisis and sending rates of nurse burnout through the roof—which isn’t something the vaccine can fix. Last summer, Mental Health America surveyed more than 1,100 healthcare workers to measure the pandemic’s effect on our mental health. 5 percent of nurses—more than any other group surveyed—said they don’t have the emotional support they need. The system that is supposed to support nurses--and, therefore, patients—is in crisis. Our workloads and stress-loads have soared while our staff numbers have decreased due to burnout and to bottom line decisions made by executives in corner offices located worlds away from the bedside. This cannot continue. Now is the time for nurses to stand together and lead. Our patients’ lives depend on it, but frankly, so does the health and viability of our profession.

We are doing everything we can from the bedside, but we need help from Harrisburg. We need the Patient Safety Act (see our legislative update on page 10). This bill, which PASNAP helped to write, would mandate safe staffing limits in hospitals across the commonwealth. Please contact your state representatives and urge them to support the bill. Staffing decisions need to be made as close to the bedside as possible with the backing of those at the bedside. In other news, I want to welcome several of PASNAP’s longtime leaders to new positions: TAP President Carlos Aviles, ENU Political and Community Engagement Chair Carla Le’coin and CCNA VP Peggy Malone were all elected to the PASNAP Executive Board as At-Large Members at our 2021 House of Delegates meeting in late April. Shirley Crowell, Co-President of NALBH, also recently joined the Executive Board as an appointee. Please join me in welcoming them to statewide leadership! We also just recently welcomed longtime Jeanes Nurses United president Angie Cleghorne to our staff as our inaugural Director of Education, fulfilling a goal I’ve had since I came on as president. For more on Angie, see page 8. These wonderful changes will add to our strength as a union and as a force for good in the lives of our members and our communities. Reflecting on the serious challenges of 2020, our theme for the 2021 House of Delegates was “Triumph and Resilience.” Together, I anticipate more of the same in 2021. In solidarity, Maureen May, RN

Striking is our tactic, solidarity is our power.

PASNAP CRITICAL UPDATE

Healthcare as a Basic Human Right, Not a Luxury Based on Wealth or Zip Code

THE CASE FOR MEDICARE FOR ALL. As professionals on the front lines of patient care during a deadly pandemic, we’ve been witness to a lot—a massive public health crisis that precipitated a devastating financial crisis that itself precipitated crippling unemployment and widespread loss of health insurance. We’ve seen firsthand the dire need in the U.S. for a new, more inclusive healthcare system—one where the sick are guaranteed care because it is their right to receive it, regardless of whether they are employed or have health insurance. That’s the idea behind Medicare for All, one of PASNAP’s pillar issues. On the heels of his excellent House of Delegates workshop, “Medicare for All— Healthcare as a Public Good,” PASNAP spoke with Walter Tsou, M.D., past president of the American Public Health Association and former Health Commissioner of Philadelphia. A board adviser to Physicians for a National Health Program, he is an expert on health reform and healthcare financing and frequently briefs members of Congress on healthcare issues. Dr. Tsou is a strong believer in Medicare for All to ensure quality, affordable healthcare for every American. Dr. Tsou began his House of Delegates workshop with a deceptively difficult question: What is the health policy of the United States? “It is striking,” he said, “that most Americans don’t even begin to know how to answer that. We spend trillions of dollars every year for something we as citizens don’t fully grasp and, honestly, don’t reap tremendous benefits from.”

PASNAP CRITICAL UPDATE

What’s the case for Medicare for All, in a nutshell? “Medicare for All would lower costs by removing the profit incentive and giving us more bargaining power over prices. It would make our healthcare system not just egalitarian but also more efficient by cutting out the middlemen and reducing overhead.”

Why should frontline healthcare workers—Democrat or Republican— want Medicare for All? “Let me address the political part of your question first: I think many people think that Medicare for All is a radical, leftwing idea. But if you think about it, it’s a very conservative idea, because it’s economical. It covers everyone and offers much bigger bang for our collective buck. Mainstream America should be embracing it. Likewise, the reason I think frontline healthcare workers should support it isn’t about ideology— healthcare workers aren’t a monolithic group; we exist on all points of the ideological spectrum—it’s about what’s practical, because I think Medicare for All is the practical solution for a healthcare system I think most of us, no matter what our politics, would agree is broken. “Imagine if everyone who walked through your ER actually paid you for your services. Imagine if your hospital was on equal footing with all the other hospitals out there. Imagine that you’re competing with other healthcare facilities only on the quality of care you can provide, since there are no haves and have nots based on Zip codes. That’s what Medicare for All would do for you: You would have food on your table and the ability to give really good care. And I think those are very strong incentives.”

“Imagine if everyone who walked through your ER actually paid you for your services. Imagine if your hospital was on equal footing with all the other hospitals out there. Imagine that you’re competing with other healthcare facilities only on the quality of care you can provide. That’s what Medicare for All would do for you.”

Safe staffing is the number one issue for PASNAP members. Does it intersect in any way with Medicare for All? “Safe staffing could and perhaps should be part of Medicare for All legislation. For instance, one of the requirements written into a Medicare for All bill could be mandatory nurse-to-patient ratios. It’s been shown repeatedly, both in the literature and by the frontline experience of nurses, that safe staffing literally saves lives. So if I’m a single payer insurer, I’d want to make sure that I’m buying a quality product. And quality obviously starts with the right nurse-to-patient ratios.”

How did you personally come to embrace Medicare for All? “When I finished my residency, I wanted a job in private practice and wasn’t able to get one. Someone suggested I work in a public health clinic for a year and then try again. I took their advice, and it changed my life. Every day, a patient would say to me, ‘I’m really glad you’re my doctor, because I’m not sure how I could pay for my care if you weren’t.’ I couldn’t help but be moved by that, but it also forced me to confront the fact that we have a medical apartheid system that’s really unfair and should end. It’s time for us to do better AND save some money. In our current system, we pay erratically and get care erratically. How is that a good, working system?”

What can a PASNAP member do to help? “I think you can strongly support the congresspeople who are on board for Medicare for All (see “The 411 on HR 1976,” right). But beyond that, I think one of the roles unions could play is to help educate people about some of the wonky health policy questions involved. Union members instinctively understand that when we work together for our collective benefit, we’re stronger. We all win.”

The 411 on HR 1976 H.R. 1976—this year’s Medicare for All bill—was introduced on March 17, 2021 by Rep. Pramila Jayapal, a Democrat from Washington State. The bill currently has 114 cosponsors, including PASNAP allies Reps. Brendan Boyle and Matt Cartwright, two among the four congresspeople from Pennsylvania who have signed onto the bill. As we went to press, the bill had no Republican cosponsors and a companion bill had yet to be introduced in the U.S. Senate.

PASNAP CRITICAL UPDATE

Keeping a Fighting Union Fighting Strong By Mary Adamson and Marty Harrison, president and vice president of TUHNA

Eleven years ago, TUHNA members waged a courageous month-long strike, defeating Temple University Hospital’s efforts to bust their union. Now, on the heels of the COVID crisis and a year before their current contract expires, TUHNA’s leaders reflect on the tolls exacted by the virus and a healthcare system that cares more about profits than patients—and how they’re going to bring the fight going forward.

Since the pandemic arrived in 2020, healthcare workers have stepped up and delivered lifesaving care under the most difficult circumstances of our careers. They called us heroes. But COVID-19 exposed the callous nature of the forprofit healthcare system in this country and the bedside nurses and ancillary PASNAP CRITICAL UPDATE

staff paid a steep price for the failure of administrators to be prepared and to protect workers and patients. Organized labor was turned upside down during the pandemic, and it was difficult to fight back against short staffing and terrible working conditions. But we have dusted ourselves off and we will continue to fight for the best patient care, safe staffing and a violence-free workplace. We are currently in the middle of a threeyear contract, with our sights set on building a strong fighting force leading up to negotiations in September 2022. Short staffing has been our most pressing issue. In the last contract, we prioritized successorship and settled for guidelines instead of staffing ratios. Before the pandemic, the hospital census was ticking up due to the closure of Hahnemann Hospital. Simultaneously, Temple Administration froze hiring. Since March

2020, we have been consistently above last year’s daily census by 50 to 100 patients with fewer nurses at the bedside. You would expect the administration to do everything they could to improve staffing, but they are shamelessly continuing down the path of austerity despite a $90 million profit last year. We fight back with incident reports, short staffing forms and exposing their failure to follow the contractual guidelines in our monthly newsletter. As frustration builds around the hospital, more nurses have stepped up and joined the Staffing and Scheduling committee that meets each month, and we are using a more professional approach at these meetings with administration, intensifying the pressure to provide us with information instead of charts and metrics that are insignificant or misleading and downright false. We’re planning a general membership meeting next month 7

to discuss a public action around the staffing issue. It’s time for the public to see how Temple and other local hospitals are treating patients and staff after the crisis pandemic. Internal organizing is another priority of the Executive Board. We have an internal organizing committee with new board members as well as seasoned leaders. We conducted Leader Identification Training with Meghan Devonshire and are building a stronger rep structure with monthly rep meetings. The meetings allow the new reps to compare notes and discuss what is going on in the hospital. Also, our new grievance chair, Shanell Larson, facilitates a focused training session on the duties of a union steward i.e., investigatory meetings, just culture, organizing and grievances. The new reps are really enjoying the training. Our goal is one representative or advocate for every 10 members.

Recently, the hospital imposed a plan to eliminate the Unit Clerks in the Emergency Room. We circulated a petition in protest of the decision citing the burden it would place on an already overworked nursing staff. We received more than 1,000 RN signatures and let the boss know we were willing to fight. The petition also served as a structure test. We were able to identify the units where we lack leaders and cohesiveness. We will be working on the shoring up these units and building out the representatives and advocate system. We are also fighting every contract violation through the grievance process and are hopeful that the Labor Board will demand Temple operate within the collective bargaining agreement. This administration has no institutional memory of the fighting force we were in 2010. Their hubris is their Achilles heel.

“This administration has no institutional memory of the fighting force we were in 2010. Their hubris is their Achilles heel.” Our new political chairperson, Shirley Gardiner, is doing an excellent job increasing our visibility in the political world. Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner has expressed interest in partnering with us to establish a hotline to report workplace violence, allowing all union and nonunion healthcare workers in Philadelphia to talk directly to staff in the District Attorney’s office. This fighting union will always push back against corporate greed because our patients deserve that—and because that is what union nurses do, whether they call us heroes or not.

Meet PASNAP’s New Director of Education—Angie Cleghorn Jeanes Nurses United president Angie Cleghorn is now PASNAP’s inaugural Director of Education. She’s still at Jeanes as Tier 1 pool and remains president of Jeanes Hospital Nurses United. But the longtime educator— Angie has taught nursing students for 10 years, most recently at Holy Family and Gwynedd Mercy Universities—is now working to create easy-access educational opportunities for PASNAP members. What’s your vision of your new role? “I’m sure my vision for what I want to do will evolve, but I know I’d like to offer our members continuing education credits and classes they can access outside of the hospital environment—education online, some in-person education, the works. I’m

studying the Massachusetts Nurses Association’s educational department and have reached out to them to find out exactly how their department operates, just as a touchstone,” she says. “Ultimately, I’d like to help PASNAP become accredited to provide healthcare pros with multiple, easy-toaccess opportunities to earn continuing ed credits and to stay current and competitive within their fields.” Down the road: “I’d like to send out literature to nursing schools and get students in the mix,” she says. “I always talk to my students about union representation—I want them to understand the benefits of having a negotiated fair contract that helps not just them but also our patients and our profession.”

Photo by Monica Herndon, staff photographer, The Philadelphia Inquirer. Published March 10, 2021.

PASNAP CRITICAL UPDATE

Three Locals, One BIG Win TAP, TUHNA + Jeanes unite to fight for HCEL—and win! On September 9, 2020, six months into the COVID-19 pandemic in Southeastern PA, Philadelphia City Council voted to amend the Philadelphia Sick Leave Ordinance to include a benefit called Healthcare Epidemic Leave (HCEL) to ensure that healthcare employees who meet the eligibility criteria (employees must have worked for the employer for a minimum of 40 hours during the preceding three months) are compensated for lost wages if they contract a communicable disease during a pandemic or epidemic affecting the City of Philadelphia. Per the ordinance:

•

Healthcare employers in Philadelphia must provide eligible employees who test positive for COVID and must miss work because they are ill with paid sick leave separate from the employee’s accrued benefit time. The employer cannot require the employee to use their own existing accrued paid leave or paid time off. • Workplace exposure, which is near-toimpossible to prove, is not required by the ordinance. To receive the benefit, the law requires only a positive test.

PASNAP CRITICAL UPDATE

•

The employer is prohibited from placing conditions or requirements on the use of HCEL and there is no time limit on the benefit. Employees are to be paid until they are able to return to work.

Some city hospitals complied with the law without being forced, because, well, it’s the law. Temple did not, claiming that they weren’t required to comply if nurses and allied professionals contracted the virus outside the hospital—which they claimed even for those who worked on the COVID units for the entire surge and even though the ordinance specifically states that where an employee contracted the virus was immaterial. So we fought back—together. The three locals used SurveyMonkey to determine which members were affected. They submitted requests for the benefit with the appropriate HR department and asked all members who were denied the benefit to file reports with the Philadelphia Department of Health. They consulted reps from the City Labor Department, who were perplexed at Temple’s refusal

to follow the ordinance, and kept the City in the loop. And they planned a press conference to expose the truth (namely, that frontline workers who risked their own health to protect the people of Philadelphia are owed HCEL and more, yet the hospital system where they work is intent on denying them their legal due) and sent Mr. Lasky an ultimatum from all three local presidents. Only then, in April, did Temple agree to comply, returning PTO time to employees’ banks and paying those who qualified for monetary reimbursement. While frustrating and even galling, the experience was a wonderful lesson in the power of collective action. The solidarity and perseverance of TAP, TUHNA and Jeanes Nurses United forced Temple to do the right thing. They want to promote the notion of one Temple across all campuses? We can promote the notion of one fighting machine across all locals.

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE: This bill, which PASNAP helped to write, would mandate safe staffing limits in hospitals across the commonwealth. It was reintroduced in the state House (as House Bill 106) in February, and PASNAP hosted a press conference with the Pennsylvania State Nurses Association, Nurses of Pennsylvania and SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania to advocate for

The Patient Safety Act

our patients and our profession in strong support of the legislation. Where is it now? The House Bill, which is bipartisan and has a wealth of cosponsors, is currently in the House Health Committee and hasn’t yet been considered/received a vote. Sen. Maria Collett, a nurse herself, is the prime

sponsor of the Senate companion bill (Senate Bill 240); she is still actively collecting cosponsors. Going forward, we may ask you to amplify the issue and urge your representatives to support the Patient Safety Act and sign on as a cosponsor. Look for more information in the days and weeks ahead.

Selena Hodge from TAP and Becky Murphy and Free Russ from St. Chris join Philadelphia City Councilmember Helen Gym in support of the Transparency in Healthcare Bill.

POLITICAL ACTION UPDATE: On Thursday, May 13, PASNAP stood with SEIU Healthcare and 1199C at the entrance to the former Hahnemann Hospital to support the Transparency in Healthcare bill, Philadelphia City Councilmember Isaiah Thomas’s proposal meant to build on the protections Councilmember Helen Gym sponsored in 2019 after the hospital’s sudden and tragic closure. Thomas’s bill would ensure transparency surrounding a hospital sale as well as protections for the staff for three months following the sale, ensuring continuity of care. Becky Murphy and Free Russ, ED nurses at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children and members of the leadership team there, spoke on behalf of the bill at the rally and the next day, at a hearing before Philadelphia City Council’s 10

The Transparency in Healthcare Bill Public Health and Human Services Committee. “St. Chris has been sold twice in the last three years and is now up for sale again,” said Becky. “Councilmember Thomas’s proposal may not have prevented any of those sales, but it would have gone a long way toward preventing the swirling uncertainty surrounding them for both the hospital staff and for the community the hospital serves. Corporate profit should never be more important than the needs and stability of caregivers and the community those caregivers serve.” “Our staff is completely in the dark about what’s going to happen to St. Chris and to us,” said Free. “We need

the knowledge, the protections and the insight Councilmember Thomas’s bill would provide. And because we need it to do our job properly, our patients need it, too.” As we went to press, the Transparency in Healthcare Bill had just passed Philadelphia’s City Council; the Mayor is expected to sign the bill into law shortly.

COMING SOON: Easy Action PASNAP just purchased a government advocacy tool that’ll make it super easy for you to contact your representatives, advocate for our issues and become an activist on your lunch break. Look for it! PASNAP CRITICAL UPDATE

NEW ORGANIZING UPDATE:

Taylor and DCMH Are Voting Now

On the heels of the Crozer Pros organizing and contract campaigns last year, Taylor Hospital techs and professionals and Delaware County Memorial Hospital pros each approached PASNAP, eager to organize as well. Both hospitals are owned by Prospect Medical Holdings and located in Delaware County. The Taylor techs and pros are organizing together. The DCMH pros are following in the footsteps of the nurses and techs there, who are already organized with PASNAP. Greg Battaglia, a medical technologist in the lab at Taylor, reached out to PASNAP last fall, after enduring months of short-staffing as COVID ravaged the hospital and medical testing was changing rapidly, creating a steep learning curve. “We know the importance of representation—we can see it in the contracts the Crozer nurses have won,” he says. “I look forward to building our strength with them and with PASNAP.” The ballots from the Taylor and DCMH elections were mailed on Friday, May 14. The count is on June 18 at 2 p.m. Solidarity!

Getting out the vote: Taylor tech Greg Battaglia shows his fellow pros and techs how it’s done.

UPCOMING CONTRACT NEGOTIATION: Armstrong County Memorial Hospital Nurses United is gearing up for a contract fight this summer. At the forefront of the negotiations: Staffing— specifically, nurse recruitment and nurse retention, which have suffered at ACMH post-COVID as nurse burnout has intensified and many RNs have left hospital and even the profession. “The solution to staffing shortages isn’t to have your current, already exhausted employees take extra shifts to make up for the people you haven’t hired yet,” says local president Amy Mundy, who works in ACMH’s Skilled Nursing Unit. “That’s what they want us to do, when the real solution—the solution that’s best both for nurses and for patients—

PASNAP CRITICAL UPDATE

is to hire more people. I tell them, ‘When you come in and work an extra 16, I will, too.’”

ACMH experience in patient care,” she says. “If you value excellence in patient care, you value highly experienced nurses.”

Sandy Harrison, ACMH Nurses United’s treasurer and 38-year ACMH veteran, adds that ACMH has a particularly tough time retaining nurses with extensive experience like herself. “Senior nurses don’t feel valued or appreciated, and yet those are the nurses who have the most

ACMH Nurses United is a relatively new union. They’re looking to reset their relationship with the hospital and make serious gains in issues surrounding recruitment and retention so that the community gets the care they deserve. Bargaining is likely to start in mid-June. “It’s not going to be easy,” says Amy. “We know “We know we’re in for a battle, but we’re in for a battle, but we also know we’re we also know we’re fighting for all fighting for all the right the right reasons.” reasons.”

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ONGOING CONTRACT NEGOTIATION:

Fair Acres

The Fair Acres Nurses United contract expires on June 31, 2021, and negotiations are ongoing. But things took a wonderful turn in the last week of May, when, thanks to American Rescue Act funding and in recognition of the challenges Fair Acres has had recruiting and retaining nurses, management approached the union with a comprehensive pay scale--something the union has never had--that would result in increased wages almost across the board. Negotiations continue with staffing and scheduling at the forefront, but fairer skies may be in the offing for Fair Acres. We’ll update you as discussions continue.

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CMC Midwives Deliver! Five Certified Nurse Midwives reached a final tentative agreement for their first contract with Geisinger! The midwives’ new contract will expire on March 31, 2024, which will allow them to bargain with the CMC RNs, CRNAs and RNFAs in the fall of 2023, creating a negotiating juggernaut—solidarity!

Additional highlights include: • A retroactive wage scale—the CNMs had been paid unfairly based on their years of experience. Moving onto a wage scale gives increases to all five—one member will even receive a 7% increase due to how low Geisinger

initially paid her when she moved to NEPA. The new wage scale is retroactive to 2/28/21. • Increases of 2.75% and 2.75% in years two and three of the contract, which, in addition to the new wage scale, represent impressive gains.

Congratulations!

PASNAP CRITICAL UPDATE