Thousands of Philly nurses to protest

A union representing thousands of Philadelphia area nurses will hold a day of picketing Tuesday. The nurses, all represented by the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals (PASNAP), are all in the middle of contract negotiations at area hospitals.

Nurses at Albert Einstein Medical Center, St. Christopher's Children's Hospital, and Hahnemann University Hospital, about 2,300 in total, recently voted to join the union and are negotiating their first contracts. They plan to  hold informational pickets at Hahnemann and St Christopher's from 6 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. Tuesday and from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at Einstein, with a 6:30 press conference at Einstein.

Nurses at Suburban General Hospital, also represented by PASNAP, are now negotiating a first contract with the hospital's new owner, Prime Healthcare Services, a California for-profit. About 150 nurses are involved, a union spokesman said. They will be picketing from 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m., from 11 p.m. to 1 p.m. and from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m., with a noon press conference.