Nurses strike at Temple U. Hospital

Several hundred striking nurses and other health professionals rallied outside Temple University Hospital this afternoon, blocking traffic on Broad Street as the crowd spilled into the roadway.

The protest came five hours after the workers walked off the job in a contract dispute.

The 1,500 members of PASNAP, the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals, have been working without a contract since Sept. 30.

About 75 pickets sent up a whoop and held up signs at 7 a.m. as workers finished the night shift and left the hospital on North Broad Street at Ontario Avenue.

Uniformed police officer and members of the Police Department's civil affairs unit wearing red armbands were on hand as the strike began on an orderly note.

The pickets carried signs saying "Temple, Respect Your Professional Staff" and "Nurses on Strike for Respect," and chanted, "Hey-hey, ho-ho, Temple's gag clause has got to go."

The union says its members - 1,000 nurses and 500 other professional workers such as respiratory therapists and social workers - voted to strike because of "bad faith" bargaining on the part of the hospital.

"We are open. We are fully functional," hospital spokeswoman Rebecca Harmon said this morning. About 400 physicians and 3,000 other employees are not involved in the labor dispute, and more than 800 "fully qualified temporary professionals" will fill in for striking workers, she said.

Union staff representative Jerry Silberman said the hospital has made no changes in its economic proposal since Sept. 27.

"It's our view that they have been attempting to provoke this strike since the beginning of bargaining," he said.

PASNAP President Maureen May said this morning just before the strike began that a key issue was a "gag clause" that would allow management to fire workers who publicly criticize the hospital.

"No. 1 for me is the gag clause, because I'm a patient advocate," May said. "I want to be able to speak out for my patients."

The hospital and union have been working with a state mediator.

Hospital administrators have hired temporary employees through an agency that specializes in strike forces to keep the 746-bed hospital open.

At a news conference Tuesday, Temple's chief executive officer, Sandra L. Gomberg, vowed the hospital will offer "uninterrupted quality care in all of our areas" throughout the strike.

Points of contention between the two sides include pay raises, the cost of health insurance, tuition benefits for employees' children, and random drug testing.

Gomberg declined to be specific about where the hospital was getting its replacement workers or how much it have to spend to keep them on the job.

"We wouldn't have had to spend a dime had we not received a strike notice from the union," Gomberg said. "We'll spend what we need to spend."

May this morning provided a sheet from HealthSourceGlobal.com showing that nurses and other professionals were being offered from $2,862 to $10,388 a week to replace striking Temple employees.

An ad at the Website says workers can earn up to $10,000 a week to work at an unidentified Pennsylvania hospital for a strike that was set to begin today.

Even before the strike began, patients received updates via letters delivered to them with their hospital meals, Gomberg said. "We're actually making phone calls," to patients scheduled for procedures, and staff members have been leafleting at all entrances.

As union members finished their shifts this morning, they were handed papers inviting them to return to work.

The hospital has also been delivering "patient assurance" messages via radio advertisements.

The hospital does not expect the strikers to be disruptive, since, as health professionals, they respect the importance of patient care, Harmon said.