A week before a threatened strike, nurses and techs at Chestnut Hill Hospital ratify contracts with Temple Health

Unionized nurses and technicians at Chestnut Hill Hospital and Temple University Hospital-Jeanes Campus have voted to approve their first contracts with Temple Health.

The contract agreements avoided threats by their union to strike by July 4, following lengthy and sometimes contentious bargaining at both hospitals.

The contracts instituted new wage scales and signing bonuses for employees. The union said they had also avoided pay cuts at Chestnut Hill, a major concern in bargaining.

At Chestnut Hill, where Temple owns a majority stake in the hospital and workers unionized 18 months ago, 265 nurses and 77 techs voted to ratify separate three-year contracts Friday.

At Jeanes, 190 technicians and other medical professionals voted late last month to ratify their own three-year contract, their union, the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses & Allied Professionals, said in a news release.

In a statement, Temple officials said ratifying the Chestnut Hill and Jeanes contracts was “the standard course of business and part of our ongoing commitment to maintaining strong working relationships.“

“We appreciate everyone involved and remain focused on delivering high-quality care every day,” officials said.

While Jeanes nurses ratified a contract last year, in April, Chestnut Hill nurses and techs authorized a strike, alongside Jeanes techs, and said Temple was not bargaining in good faith.

Union representatives had said they were particularly concerned about proposed pay cuts for some staff at Chestnut Hill, and also raised alarms about what they described as short staffing in some units.

The health system said they were moving toward a new pay system that would pay employees based on experience. Most employees would have seen a pay raise under the proposed system, Temple officials said. They also said staffing levels were higher than during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The new contracts at Jeanes and Chestnut Hill adopt a new wage scale, with increasing salaries based on employees’ experience, and guaranteed raises for all employees for each year of the contract.

Employees at Chestnut Hill will not see any pay cuts, the union said, though some with salaries above the wage scale will see smaller annual raises.

Full-time employees will get bonuses of $1,000, while part-time employees will receive $500.

Staff will also get a week of paid parental leave, which is equivalent to parental leave at Temple’s main hospital and the Fox Chase Cancer Center.

The contracts also establish committees where employees and managers will regularly discuss workplace safety and improving patient care, and include a week of paid leave for employees who are victims of violence on the job.

In the union’s news release, Chestnut Hill radiology technician Dawn Verrecchio said that she was excited by the contract ratification — and that it would help retain staff at the hospital and attract new employees.

“This is exactly what we organized for — for our patients and our hospital staff,” she said.

Editor’s note: This article has been updated to correct the financial details of the bonuses agreed on in the union contracts.