No strike at Temple

Good news: About 1,500 Temple University Hospital nurses and staffers decided to postpone a three-day strike that was set to begin tomorrow over rocky contract negotiations.

Bad news: The already-sticky talks between nursing union officials and Temple University Health System brass seemed to grow more contentious yesterday.

The Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals (PASNAP), which represents the nurses and staffers at Temple Hospital, announced that its members had rejected the Health System's proposal, 1,051 to 7. The contract expired yesterday.

PASNAP executive director Bill Cruice later told the Daily News that Temple University President Anne Weaver Hart "is engaged in a reckless, irresponsible attack on the nurses and professional staff . . . that would diminish the status of the hospital to the point where it would be unrecognizable."

Sandy Gomberg, Temple Hospital's interim chief executive officer, returned fire last night: "It's very clear that the union representatives aren't being truthful, and are being manipulative."

Cruice said Temple officials are seeking to phase out a longtime tuition benefit for children of employees, substantially increase employees' health-care costs and implement "below par" wage increases.

He added that union officials were angered when they obtained a financial report earlier this week that indicated that the Health System has made a profit this year of $7.1 million "despite blowing through $50 million in costs" connected to the June closure of Northeastern Hospital.

Gomberg said that "this isn't about whether Temple made money or lost money. This is about wages and benefits.

"Our nurses have the highest [wage] rates in the region, and they're asking for raises of 4 and 5 percent."