TAP Contracts

Committee, which will include representatives from every unit, will meet monthly to address issues and make recommendations to the hospital about staffing, technology, training, equipment, and supplies.

The contract also includes:

• New safety and security measures, including stronger language on protections from workplace violence, including thefts and vandalism on hospital property; a commitment to install weapons detectors and station security at every entrance 24/7; and a newly created system for follow-up and debrief on incidents of workplace violence.

• Wages that make Temple nurses the highest paid statewide and give them the highest pay scales in any union contract in Pennsylvania, ensuring that Temple can attract new nurses and retain their experienced staff.

“This fight was always about our community—our TUH caregiver community and our patient community,” says ICU nurse Mary Adamson, RN, President of TUHNA. “This contract, with its new staffing language and the seat at the table it provides us in creating policies to report and prevent workplace violence, is absolutely game changing. It is a transformational win.”

TAP Won Long Overdue Respect for the Front Line

TAP’s new contract includes historic gains in wages and compensation, long overdue for frontline caregivers who brought their facility through the worst of the pandemic and whose pay had fallen well below market value. In addition, the new contract:

• Reduces mandatory overtime, a huge issue that had led to burnout, fatigue and, ultimately critical problems with retention.

• Requires Temple to provide a safe work environment, protecting staff from workplace violence. Mirroring the language in TUHNA’s contract, the TAP contract includes new safety and security measures, including stronger language on protections from workplace violence, including thefts and vandalism on hospital property; a commitment to install weapons detectors and station security at every entrance 24/7; and a newly created system for follow-up and debrief on incidents of workplace violence.

“Temple caregivers are the hospital’s greatest asset,” says Carlos Aviles, CPhT, a Certified Pharmacy Technician and President of Temple Allied Professionals. “In this contract, the work we do—the work we risked our lives to do over the last two and a half years—is further respected, further valued. And that means we can stop bleeding experienced staff and keep our caregivers right here in North Philadelphia.”