PASNAP HOUSE OF DELEGATES 2022! APRIL 24–26, 2022 • For More Info, See Page 9!
September 28, 2021: PASNAP Safe Staffing Day of Action in Harrisburg
CRITICAL UPDATE Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses & Allied Professionals
February 2022
Autumn of Action
Last fall, against a backdrop of COVID numbers steadily rising, we stood strong, fought hard and won some amazing victories. This is our victory lap. “Early in the pandemic, we had to fight to get ample PPE. Now we’re dealing with another crisis within the pandemic, and that crisis is staffing. We have the resources we need now, but we don’t have the staff.” —PASNAP Executive Board Member Carlos Aviles
FEB2022e.indd 1
Safe Staffing Day of Action Building attention and momentum for our Safe Staffing Lobby Day to follow on September 28, PASNAP members from Temple University Hospital Main and Jeanes Campus, Albert Einstein Medical Center, and Pottstown Hospital braved gale-force winds and driving rain on September 23 to draw public attention to the patient care crisis in our hospitals, across our region and statewide. Here’s what our local leaders had to say.
“Now we’re dealing with another crisis within the pandemic, and that crisis is staffing. We have the resources we need now, but we don’t have the staff. Frontline healthcare workers were considered heroes. When did we get forgotten?” “We desperately need better staffing, better working conditions and a way continued on page 2
“Early in the pandemic, we had to fight to get ample PPE,” said Temple Allied Professionals President Carlos Aviles.
2/23/22 12:27 PM
to pull ourselves out of this crisis,” said Mary Adamson, R.N., president of Temple University Hospital Nurses Association. “Nurses don’t leave the bedside on a whim. We leave only when the conditions become too horrific to stay.” “The hospital is hiring but the nurses aren’t staying—the workload is pushing them away,” said Lori Domin, R.N., president of Pottstown Hospital Nurses United. “Short staffing quickly leads to nurse burnout and more short-staffing. It’s a spiral.” “Every day for many months, we have worked with fewer nurses than the
staffing grids in our contract call for,” says Peg Lawson, R.N., co-president of Einstein Nurses United. “It’s deeply frustrating to know you aren’t going to be able to accomplish the things that you want to or need to as a bedside caregiver.” “Nurses are managing more patients with higher acuity than ever before at TempleJeanes,” said Angie Cleghorn, R.N., president of Jeanes Nurses United. “We need our legislators to understand that we need safe nurse-to-patient ratios if we are to continue to provide excellent care. Right now, we just don’t have the staff to do that.”
Nurses take to the street outside Temple North— Jeanes Campus.
3 Safe Staffing Lobby Day On September 28, 71 PASNAP members converged on the Pennsylvania Capitol in Harrisburg with two goals in mind: 1) Get more cosponsors for the Patient Safety Act (House Bill 106 and Senate Bill 240) to establish minimum safe nurseto-patient ratios in hospital units across the state. And 2) build relationships with legislators. We did both! Safe Staffing Lobby Day, by the numbers:
• 5 meetings alongside PSNA, Nurses of PA, and SEIU Healthcare PA • 41 scheduled PASNAP-only meetings • 15 drop-in meetings to pitch the bill • 39 drop-by meetings to invite legislators to our rally • 100 visits in total • 22 elected officials joined us for our mid-day rally • 25 lawmakers who hadn’t cosponsored the bill signed on. Before Lobby Day, HB 106 had 50 cosponsors; SB 240, 20 cosponsors. After Lobby Day, HB 106 had 73 and SB 240 had 22—a gain of 25 cosponsors in all.
2
FEB2022e.indd 2
GROUNDBREAKING NEWS ON SAFE STAFFING LEGISLATION— WE’RE AT MAJORITY IN THE HOUSE! For the first time ever, a majority of representatives in the Pennsylvania House has signed on to support the Patient Safety Act. As of mid-February—just as we went to press—we have 104 out of 203 total, a majority! As wonderful as this development is, our fight for safe staffing is not yet done. We need more votes in the House Health Committee to vote the bill out of Committee and give it a hearing on the House Floor. Right now the Chair of the Health Committee, Rep. Kathy Rapp, is blocking the bill from moving out of committee. Stay tuned for notifications of upcoming actions to help move the bill forward!
PASNAP CRITICAL UPDATE
2/23/22 12:27 PM
Crozer Nurses Association Info Picket On Thursday, September 30, two days after our Safe Staffing Lobby Day, the nurses at Crozer-Chester Medical Center held an informational picket, also about safe staffing. Management had allowed staffing levels in CCMC to drop to unsafe and unprecedented levels and was treating the nurses with undisguised disrespect. The nurses used the picket to call attention to the staffing crisis inside the hospital and to insist that management follow the existing staffing grids in their contract, guaranteeing a minimum level of nursing care for each patient and prioritizing patient safety. The picket drew lots of press and a ton of supportive elected officials.
FING SAFE STAFACTION! Y LOBBY DA
PASNAP CRITICAL UPDATE
FEB2022e.indd 3
3
2/23/22 12:27 PM
NEW CONTRACTS! Eagleville Nurses and Techs United On October 19, exactly two weeks after they had voted unanimously to authorize a strike over understaffing, the nurses and techs at Eagleville Hospital voted unanimously again, this time to ratify a new three-year contract that directly addresses their staffing concerns and the safety risks that understaffing heightens for both patients and caregivers. In addition to increased wages, the nurses’ and techs’ new contract requires increased staffing in Eagleville’s Residential Rehabilitation Units and a new process to prevent short-staffing. Staffing grids will be posted for the duration of the contract, and management must make its “best efforts” to meet the grids. If management wants to change the staffing grids, they must go through a protocol with the union where objective criteria, including
acuity, missed lunches and short staffing forms filed, must be taken into account. Saving money is not a metric. “When we negotiated this contract, we put our patients first, and at the end of the day, management did the right thing—for them and for us,” said Kendra Barkasi, R.N., president of Eagleville Hospital Nurses and Techs United. “I’m really looking forward to the changes the new contract puts into place and to providing the best possible patient care.” “This new contract gives us techs a sense of worthiness and is helping us feel that management finally sees that the work we do here matters,” said Eagleville tech and Executive Board member Brendah Polenco. “Like the healthcare heroes we are, we negotiated a contract that benefits us all, and for the next three years, we can focus solely on doing what we love—caring for our patients.”
Pottstown Nurses United On November 11, the nearly 200 nurses at Pottstown Hospital ratified a new threeyear contract with big improvements in staffing and other wins. Along with successorship (a critical win for nurses at this Tower Health-owned hospital), the contract calls for the formation of a new staffing committee composed of union members and management to review staffing levels and create unit-specific staffing grids that cannot be changed without the committee’s okay; mandatory 10 hours of rest time between shifts for on-call staff; and a proper wage scale that includes a pair of new experience steps— one at 15 years, the other at 25. “In negotiations, we put the care of our patients first, and it shows in the final contract,” said Lori Domin, R.N., president of Pottstown Nurses United. “I’m really looking forward to improved staffing, to retention of our current nurses with a proper wage scale, and above all else, to working together toward the same goal— excellence in patient care.”
Warren General Hospital Professional Employees Association After an info picket, Warren General caregivers mounted a bruising PR campaign around the slogan, “Warren General’s Cuts Won’t Heal”—and gave a 10-day notice for a strike. But on Dec. 15, they overwhelmingly ratified a new three-year contract that directly addresses their concerns over staffing and the risks that understaffing heightens for their patients, the Warren community, who showed the caregivers tremendous support during their contract campaign. The new contract strengthens staffing at Warren General by requiring the hospital to take measures (like assigning a float nurse, if available; pulling qualified staff from other units; seeking volunteers; having supervisors work and assist) to address short staffing on a unit due 4
FEB2022e.indd 4
increased patient acuity and increased census, among other reasons. “The contract we negotiated is a step in the right direction for our patients’ wellbeing,” says union Co-President Charlene Fohrd, R.N. “We were able to build a framework for safer staffing and a better plan for staff recruitment and rentention. Our first concern is always our patients and we’re grateful to the community for supporting us in this effort.”
How Do You Get Under the Boss’s Skin? Do What WGHPEA Did! 1. Create a catchy, bad-for-theboss slogan for your campaign. 2. Put the slogan on lawn signs and distribute hundreds of signs throughout the community. 3. Take out a full-page ad in the local newspaper, using the slogan. 4. Build a website around the slogan and notify the press!
PASNAP CRITICAL UPDATE
2/23/22 12:27 PM
Message from PASNAP President Maureen May, RN Dear PASNAP family, As I write this, we are marking the second full year since the pandemic laid siege to our hospitals, our communities and, in many ways, our professions. We have lost patients—so many patients. And we have also lost colleagues—to COVID, to retirement and, in some cases, to hopelessness and despair. COVID-19 has changed everything. We inhabit a new landscape now, both literally and figuratively, and it’s in this context that I want to recognize the often backbreaking and heartbreaking work you do—and the passion, the fight and commitment you bring to that work every single shift. We’re fighting like hell—through hell— to effect change for our patients and ourselves, and our voice in this fight is greatly amplified by our solidarity. That solidarity was on full display last month, as nurses and technical professionals from Temple Main and Jeanes campuses joined nurses from across the country to demand protections for themselves and for their patient communities. And on January 25th, when PASNAP and our Patient Safety Act coalition partners held a press conference in Harrisburg specifically to call out state Rep. Kathy Rapp, chair of the House Health Committee, and demand that she give the Patient Safety Act what every bill deserves—an up or down vote.
Nurses in the House: Joe Gentile, Debbi Bozeman, and I at Rep. Rapp’s Capitol office door.
PASNAP CRITICAL UPDATE
FEB2022e.indd 5
Temple Day of Action on January 13th
Every day, every one of us is witness to the ways in which short staffing and disrespect for workers impact our patients’ health and our professional lives, and we as a union have and will continue to come together—nurses with allied healthcare professionals, local with local—to fight for a different future, where patients come before profits. We are a feisty, activist union—it’s how we were born, 22 years ago, when we left other unions and organizations to create PASNAP. The fight is in our blood. We win standard-setting contracts that improve work conditions for nurses and healthcare professionals while also improving quality of care for patients (check out “Autumn of Action” on page 1!). We use our collective strength to advocate for safe staffing, prevention of workplace violence and harassment, and universal access to healthcare. Our advocacy was instrumental in passing Act 102, Pennsylvania’s ban on mandatory overtime for healthcare workers.
We will continue to fight for our patients and ourselves—that is a given. But it’s also clear, given the mental and emotional wreckage wrought by the pandemic, that we have to be kind to ourselves in equal measure. That’s what our House of Delegates this year will be about (see page 9 for all the details). It’s what House of Delegates plenary speaker Stephanie Wise will help us to do (see “Healthcare Begins with SelfCare” on page 6). And at its root, it’s what our next Lobby Day on workplace violence prevention is all about (see “Save the Date!” on page 12). In healthcare, we are taught to put our patients first. Always. But we can learn— together—to value ourselves and our own mental and physical health, as well. Thank you, PASNAP family, for all you do. In solidarity, Maureen May, RN
5
2/23/22 12:28 PM
HEALTHCARE BEGINS WITH SELF-CARE The pandemic and our experience on its front lines have changed everything—our energy levels, our outlook, even our capacity for happiness. We can’t forget COVID and its wreckage, but Stephanie Wise, a trauma specialist and speaker at our upcoming House of Delegates, says we can “soften the edges of memory” and move forward. One step at a time.
Stephanie Wise, ATR-BC, ATCS, LCAT, is director of the Art Therapy Program at Marywood University in Scranton. She is also a trauma specialist and has worked with many people suffering myriad traumas—children post 9/11, veterans, people struggling with substance abuse, Katrina evacuees, incarcerated persons, sexually abused children, and adults overcoming childhood complex trauma. But the COVID pandemic and the insistent, accumulated, repeated traumas within it are different. Especially for frontline caregivers who have borne the brunt of what is truly a global trauma. What do we do in the face of such a massive impediment to happiness? We don’t forget, says Wise, who will speak about trauma and a path toward healing at our 2022 House of Delegates in April— that’s just not an option. But we can, she says, “soften the sharp edges of memory” and move forward. Together. PASNAP: Is there a difference in effect between trauma that happens in a moment, like September 11th, and trauma that occurs over a days and months and years, slowly accumulating in intensity, like the COVID-19 pandemic? WISE: There’s always a difference depending on the horizontal and the vertical—the duration of the trauma and its intensity. But even moments of trauma like the twin towers coming down or the individual deaths that occur and accumulate within a pandemic 6
FEB2022e.indd 6
aren’t just one and done—they intensify with repetition. The young children I worked with after 9/11 were traumatized repeatedly every time they saw the towers come down on television. I think the real difference between the pandemic and other traumas I’ve encountered is that it’s all-encompassing: Everyone in the world has been a participant in this trauma. For some people, it’s been a slower erosion of the old normal, but it’s been relentless— especially for caregivers, for whom it’s been two years with no break. The other difference, which is similar to what war veterans experience, is that it appears there will be no concrete end. This is an unbelievable burden, because it drains the resiliency we rely on when we get hurt or suffer through something brutal. It’s insistent and relentless, so our time of healing keeps getting postponed. PASNAP: Does the fact that it’s universal mitigate the trauma in any way? WISE: It does the exact opposite—it compounds it. Frontline caregivers are experiencing trauma vicariously through their sick patients and through the desperation of those patients’ families, but that trauma is their own trauma, as well, because they identify with the losses. It’s collective trauma, exponential trauma. When nurses are crying in their cars at the end of every shift, that’s not burnout. That term diminishes the magnitude of what
they feel, which is moral distress. It’s very similar to what veterans experience when,
‘‘
It’s crazier to be a nurse now than it ever was before. If you’re anything like me, you toggle between feeling completely exhausted and pushing yourself to work even more to help out when the unit is short. It’s very difficult to get the self-care we need and, to be honest, I’m still figuring out what that means for me. I have two goals for 2022: to set more boundaries on my time and to get out more. Just yesterday, I said to my friends, come on, let’s go to dinner and just get some time where we aren’t talking about work. It’s so important.
’’
—Kendra Barkasi, RN, president of Eagleville Nurses & Techs United during the course of war, they have to do things they don’t want to do. Caregivers are constantly asked to do jobs outside of their capacity under impossible circumstances. And they are exhausted. PASNAP: Wartime trauma stays with veterans forever. Will the trauma of this pandemic be with us forever? WISE: In many ways, it will, because forgetting isn’t an option. Amnesia isn’t an option. But while we can’t forget PASNAP CRITICAL UPDATE
2/23/22 12:28 PM
completely, we can soften the sharp edges of the memory by reminding our bodies that they can store something other than trauma. Your body holds onto the trauma—it stores it, remembers it. But just as trauma can inhabit your body, your body can also be a receptacle for joy. It can hold onto happiness in the same way it holds onto trauma. You just have to remind it what joy feels like. PASNAP: How do we do that? WISE: It’s going to sound simplistic, but I promise you, it works: Think small rather than big. Think about moments rather than a lifetime. And be intentional about seeking and finding pleasure in those small, discreet moments. It’s why so many people started baking bread during the pandemic—it’s a little, physical act that feels good. It grounds you in your body and reminds your body that it can feel good. Plus, if you gift a loved one with the bread you make, you’re compounding the good. It is the act of creating. PASNAP: What are some other small, transformational acts? WISE: There is no prescribed universal path—it’s honestly whatever works for
‘‘
I have six kids, and they have taught me: No matter what it is, it’s really never about yourself. It’s about family—family first. Although I didn’t stay at home during the early, awful days of the pandemic, I tried to get home more than most people were able to. I needed those times to remind myself how incredibly lucky I am. My family grounded me then and they do the same for me today. They remind me how much I have to be grateful for, even when things are very, very bad at work. And that keeps me going.
’’
—Peggy Malone, vice-president, Crozer-Chester Nurses Association
PASNAP CRITICAL UPDATE
FEB2022e.indd 7
‘‘
Self-care has always been a priority for me. As nurses, we are giving of ourselves all of the time and it’s important that we learn to give back to ourselves as well. Since the pandemic hit and added new pressures and stress of getting sick and taking care of more patients than ever before, selfcare has become even more important for me. My favorite way to destress is aromatherapy and personal care. I like to take a really hot shower and use all of my favorite perfumes and lotions. Working in a hospital can be so overstimulating. These are things I can do for myself to slow down and reset my mind.
’’
—Tina Christman, RN, Eagleville Cedar 2A you, whether it’s dancing wildly, with great physical abandon to music you love for 5 minutes or taking a restorative walk on a trail or amid nature. These are small things, but they truly can be transformational. You’re doing them in defiance of what trauma does to your body. You’re creating and implanting joy. Healing is a process, one you have to start carefully, doing things you can control, so there’s no chance a sense of failure can creep in. Nurses are being asked to do things that are impossible, and that’s devastating for a highly skilled professional. My best advice is to start small. PASNAP: You’re an art therapist. How do you use art in helping victims of trauma? WISE: Drawing and painting activate the right side of the brain—the same side of the brain where memories of trauma are stored. The two sides of our brain work together most of the time, but they each have their own functions. The left side of the brain is the seat of logical thinking and the side we use when we read or do math. The right side of the brain is for creative and non-logical thinking. It’s where stories, music, art, and dance moves come from. It’s also where memories of sound, touch, and smell are stored. Through MRI studies, researchers have found that when trauma survivors are asked to recall memories of their trauma,
the right side of the brain is activated while the left side is completely shut down. This is why many trauma survivors are unable to put into words what happened to them. The idea behind art therapy is that it encourages survivors to tap into the creative part of themselves— the part that stores their trauma—and begin to work through their trauma in that way. It’s why I suggested dancing and baking bread, hiking and doing. It’s also why I encourage trauma survivors to draw their memories, recall their trauma experience as an observer, a little bit at a time. It’s the process that works—the doing, the right-brain-using; the quality of the art is immaterial.
‘‘
I’ve been practicing yoga for a long time. I haven’t been able to go to my class since COVID started, but I know my routine. It gets my mind and body more connected. Yoga makes me feel like I’m in a bubble where all the negativity rolls away. There can be a lot of negativity working with addicts, but I know our patients have been through a lot, even more than we have, and yoga helps keep me focused on caring for them.
’’
—Debbie Tieck, RN, Eagleville Cedar 2B
7
2/23/22 12:28 PM
Follow PASNAP on Social Media fb.com/pennanurses @pennanurses pennanurses By law, the Union is required to furnish the following information annually. If you have questions, please call (610) 567-2907. PASNAP, like other unions, spends the vast majority of its funds on collective-bargaining related activities as well as some amounts for political lobbying, community services, charitable donations, publications, certain litigation and other matters. As an employee represented by PASNAP and covered by a contract containing a union security or agency fee clause, you are required as a condition of employment to pay dues or an agency fee to the Union. Employees who are members of PASNAP enjoy all the rights and privileges of union membership including attending union meetings, voting to ratify contracts, running for union office, voting for union officers, and participating in certain union benefit programs that are provided only to union members. Employees may choose not to be members of the Union. Employees who are not members of the union pay dues or agency fees, but they do not enjoy any of the rights and privileges of membership. Non-member employees may be “Beck Objectors” and may request an adjustment to their dues based on their objection to the Union expenditures that they believe are not reasonably related to representational activities including collective bargaining, contract negotiations, and grievance adjustment and related activities. Non-members who choose to object should request an adjustment to their dues. Such a request must be in writing, and it must include the employee’s full name, address, social security number, current wage rate, and employer. Such a request must be sent to PASNAP, Suite 475, One Fayette Street, Conshohocken, Pennsylvania 19428. Such a request is valid until withdrawn by the employee. Non-members who submit an objection will receive information regarding how the union calculates representational expenditures and have their dues reduced to reflect the percentage of non-representational expenditures from the previous fiscal year which covers the period of July 1, 2019–June 30, 2020. This reduction in dues will commence on the first day of the month following the receipt of the objection. Beck objectors will be required to pay 85% of union dues. Non-members objectors have the right to challenge the union’s calculations of representational expenditure before an impartial arbitrator on an annual basis pursuant to the American Arbitration Association’s Rules for Impartial Determination of Union fees. Such challenges must be made in writing, explain the basis for the challenge, and be received by the Union at the above address within 30 days of the employees receiving the calculation information. If more than one member challenges the calculations, the challenges will be consolidated for hearing. The decision of the impartial arbitrator will be final and binding. PASNAP will pay the cost of arbitration. Challengers must bear all other costs in connection with presenting their appeal, such as travel, witness fees, lost time, representation, etc.
8
FEB2022e.indd 8
Two Who Came Before In honor of Black History Month, we take a look back at those who helped us move forward. PASNAP Executive Board Member Carla Le’coin likes to “learn a new person”— especially when that person is part of her ancestry as an African American healthcare professional. In honor of Black History Month, whose theme this year is “Black Health and Wellness,” Carla shared with us the names of two pioneering Black caregivers who confronted the inherent racism in our healthcare system with grace, education, and perseverance. “Their histories— and in the case of James Durham, the Philadelphia connection—really spoke to me,” she says. “When I first learned of James Durham and Estelle Massey Osborne, I told my family about them, and I’m thrilled to share them with my PASNAP family, too.” ESTELLE MASSEY OSBORNE The first African American nurse to earn a master’s degree, Osborne—“Stelle” to her family—helped change the face of nursing in the 20th century. Born in 1901, at a time when race prevented most Black women from holding top positions in their fields, Osborne not only rose within nursing, she opened it up for those who came after her. As head of the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses, Osborne partnered with White-exclusive nursing institutions like the American Nurses Association and lobbied them intensely to accept Black nurses. She created programs to develop post-nursing school opportunities for nurses of color. She shattered the status quo over and over and over again. And she broke down barriers for women, women of color, and women of color who are nurses. To quote from New York University’s Rory Meyers College of Nursing, where Osborne was the school’s first Black instructor of nursing: “To be the first at anything is an accomplishment, but to have been, like Osborne, the first in so many arenas is a testament to her vision, fearlessness and strength of character. From 1934, when she became president of the National Association of Colored Graduate
Nurses, to 1966, when she left her executive post at the National League for Nursing to retire, she made heroic steps toward eliminating racial barriers and prejudice at the heart of our healthcare system.” JAMES DURHAM Widely acknowledged as the first recognized African American physician in the United States, Durham was born into slavery in 1762 in Philadelphia. He worked for most of his early life for a trio of slaveholders who were doctors. The first, Dr. John Kearsley in Philadelphia, taught Durham to read and write, and he tutored him in the principles of pharmacy. The second further expanded Durham’s knowledge of medicine. And the third, Dr. Robert Dow of New Orleans, allowed Durham to work alongside him in his medical practice—the first recorded instance in the United States of a Black person trained in medicine working with patients of any racial background. In 1783, when Durham was just 21, Dr. Dow either freed him or Durham paid for his liberation with the earnings he received from patients he treated. Durham then set up his own very successful early-ENT practice, specializing in throat medicine. He treated anyone who came to him, Black or White. And they all came. PASNAP CRITICAL UPDATE
2/23/22 12:28 PM
PASNAP HOUSE OF DELEGATES 2022 Sunday, April 24–Tuesday, April 26
MOHEGAN SUN CASINO, WILKES-BARRE, PA Every year, our union comes together at our House of Delegates meeting to strategize ways to build a more powerful, engaged, and active union. This year, two years into a pandemic, we could not need the solidarity, the support and the inspiration more.
At House of Delegates 2022, we hit the pause button: We stop fighting, take a much-needed breather, and for a change, care for ourselves. Our theme this year is Healthcare Begins with Self-Care: Inner Strength & Outer Confidence.
We spent all of last year fighting for our patients and for each other. We fought for excellence in care and in working conditions and against management and policies that would seek to limit those things. And we fought fiercely for better staffing, for better contracts and for a better future for the nurses and allied health professionals just joining us out of school. At House of Delegates 2022, we hit the pause button: We stop fighting, take a much-needed breather, and for a change, care for ourselves. Our theme this year is Healthcare Begins with Self-Care: Inner Strength & Outer Confidence. In addition to learning how to strengthen our ability to win good contracts with safe staffing, solid wage increases, better working conditions and no healthcare give-backs, we’ll learn how to combat bullying, we’ll try our hands at some art therapy, and we’ll relax, have fun. Massage therapists/reflexologists will be on hand, and we’ll have guided yoga and meditation classes. Join us! We’re in this together!
REGISTER NOW! Contact your local board if you’re interested in running for a delegate position.
Register and reserve your room now at www.pasnap.com/hod-20229
PASNAP CRITICAL UPDATE
FEB2022e.indd 9
2/23/22 12:28 PM
ORGANIZING UPDATES Just in the last year, PASNAP members have won no fewer than 20 transformative new contracts and inspired nurses and allied professionals at Delaware County Memorial Hospital, Taylor Hospital, and Fox Chase Cancer Center to join us in our fight.
More Butler Memorial Nurses On December 13, 66 nurses within various departments at Butler Memorial Hospital, including Radiology, Case Management, and Cardiac Catheterization Lab, among others, voted by a more than a 3 to 1 margin to join Pennsylvania Independent Nurses. The PASNAP local now represents essentially all full- and part-time nurses in the hospital, ensuring that nurses’ concerns are heard and excellence in patient care is prioritized. “During the second wave of COVID, you could look around and see how unfairly the non-union staff were being treated,” said Robin Stiner, a Radiology nurse who has worked at Butler Memorial for 20 years.
Ben Shelkrot, Temple North CRNA and new PASNAP member!
New PASNAP members at Butler.
“There weren’t any rules or a contract to protect us. The hospital could do whatever they wanted without thinking about us. We decided we had to do something. Now, we are joining with our union coworkers to have a say in what matters to us and our patients. We have always
Temple North Certified Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) On December 16, 27 Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) at Jeanes Hospital and Fox Chase Cancer Center, both under the Temple University Health System umbrella, voted overwhelmingly to form a union, joining PASNAP and their many Temple union siblings—2,200 nurses and professionals at Temple University Hospital/Main Campus, 315 nurses at Temple North/Jeanes Hospital, and 100 nurses who work in Temple research and outpatient clinics. The CRNAs and nurses at Temple Main and at Jeanes Hospital have a voice, a seat at the table, and a great contract—
10
FEB2022e.indd 10
given our patients 100 percent, and now we can fight to get them the staffing and resources they need and deserve. Before, it was separate and unequal for the union and nonunion nurses. Now, we are all one.”
why shouldn’t their colleagues at Temple North? The answer, of course, is: They should. “We chose to unionize in order to define our worth,” says nurse anesthetist H. Alexis Pepe, MSN, CRNA. “We are a highly skilled, intelligent, diligent, and dedicated group of individuals who strive to provide the best quality care to our patients—many of whom have numerous complexities—each and every day. We banded together in order to be seen and treated as valuable contributors to the patient care experience within the Temple University Health System.”
PASNAP CRITICAL UPDATE
2/23/22 12:28 PM
BARGAINING UPDATES
WVNA bargaining session, January 5, 2022.
Wilkes-Barre General Hospital RNs and CRNAs Both locals are now negotiating new contracts. The RNs are employed by Wilkes-Barre General Hospital, which is owned by Community Health Systems (CHS). The CRNAs work at Wilkes-Barre General but are employed by an outside contractor.
Short staffing—a CHS corporate strategy— is the key bargaining issue for both locals. On January 21st, the CRNAs voted unanimously to authorize a strike, setting a strike date of February 2nd. But not even
Armstrong Nurses Association After a 94% yes vote to authorize a strike, management sat down with the nurses on February 8th and met them halfway on an OT issue. They also moved a little closer on staffing. But they refused to negotiate on wages. Reluctantly, management agreed to meet the RNs on a wage scale close to what they deserve, but they continue to refuse to agree to a full year’s wage increase. This means they’re demanding that nurses who worked relentlessly during a pandemic receive only half a year’s raise. A general membership meeting was scheduled for Feb. 23rd to discuss necessary next steps for getting hospital management to take their nurses and their work seriously.
TAP strategy—and strength!—session in January.
a week after their strike authorization vote, CHS dismissed their employer, and the CRNAs withdrew their strike notice. As we went to press, the nurses were still bargaining.
Pennsylvania Independent Nurses Association (Butler) Pennsylvania Independent Nurses—the nurses’ union at Butler Memorial Hospital— has one of the best nurses’ contracts in Western PA. The union’s existing contract expires in April, and prep for bargaining has already begun. A key issue in the negotiation will be respect for and retention of existing nursing staff—a quality of care issue. With the vote in December and the addition of 66 nurses to their bargaining unit (see “More Butler Memorial Nurses” on page 10), the union’s position is stronger than ever.
Temple University Hospital Nurses Association + Temple Allied Professionals With both contracts due to expire in September, and 1,400 R.N.s and nearly 850 technical specialists in the bargaining units, the prep has already begun. A joint strategy session was held in mid-February.
PASNAP CRITICAL UPDATE
FEB2022e.indd 11
11
2/23/22 12:28 PM
SAVE THE DATE! Our first HARRISBURG LOBBY DAY of 2022 will be held on TUESDAY, JUNE 14. We’ll be advocating for legislation to prevent workplace violence and harassment—it’s not part of the job. And of course we will be lobbying for safe staffing as well. Mark your calendars; request off. You’ll be receiving more details soon.
Address Service Requested 1 Fayette Street, Suite 475 Conshohocken, PA 19428 FEB2022e.indd 12
2/23/22 12:28 PM