The Washington Post, CNN, and Latina Lista have featured my work during the past month. The Post wrote about the Washington Hospital Center nurses’ labor dispute and showed that it was just part of a larger phenomenon occuring across the country.
Philadelphia has been an example of that after Temple Hospital nurses and allied professionals were on strike for 28 days back in April, and The Washington Post mentioned that in their story and linked to my video showing the health professionals walking out from the hospital at 7 a.m. on April 31.
In October I covered the Federal Trial against two Shenandoah, Pa., men charged with a hate crime in relation with the 2007 beating death of Luis Ramirez, an undocumented immigrant. I had the chance to work with Latina Lista and Spot.us to distribute and crowdfund the coverage, respectively.
Finally, in an not so direct way, CNN ran a story on the violence at South Philadelphia High School. In December 2009, 32 Asian students were the target of attacks from a mob of primarily black students. The students organized and boycotted the school in an attempt to bring authorities to dialogue table to find a solution to the history of racial violence against Asian students at Philadelphia schools.
After almost a year, CNN ran a story detailing what happened back then and how these kids are coping with the aftermath of a problem that still goes without being addressed. Since then, I have noticed an increase in the traffic to my videos on the testimonymany of the victims gave at an SRC meeting in March.
When the nurses and allied professionals strike at Temple University Hospital entered its fourth week, the union held its biggest rally despite the rain. Here are some images of what went on back then. Philadelphia Weekly , Templewatch.org and MediaMobilizingProject‘s Labor Blog picked up this video for their publications and monitoring of what was going on during the strike.
Two weeks after walking out of work, the 1,500 Temple University Hospital nurses and technicians are in good spirits manning the picket line and demanding that hospital officials sit down to the table and bargain in good faith.
“I feel good because we are united fighting and we all will be here until we get a decent contract,” said Sabrina Nixon, a medical technologist who has worked for TUH for 22 years.
The two-week landmark comes just a couple of days short of payday Friday, one that will only bring in a few dollars worth a couple days’ work. But this doesn’t seem to trouble Nixon, who said she planned ahead in light of what was in store for her and all of her unionized colleagues. “I knew this was coming and that’s why I saved money and got a part time job in June so I could have some income,” she said. The strike, Nixon added, “is not about the money but about fighting for a good contract.”
The 1,500 health care professionals—members of the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals (PASNAP)—had been working without a contract since October 2009 and hit the picket line on March 31 after months of failed negotiations. At the heart of the conflict are two clauses included in TUH best and final offer: eliminating the longstanding benefit of free tuition for employees’ children and “non-disparagement” language in their contracts which would impede PASNAP members from openly criticize the hospital or its officials. “This has nothing to do with the money. We want to keep the benefits that we have,” said Susan Todd, a registered nurse working for TUH.
Without mentioning specifics, Temple Hospital management insists it has been negotiating in good faith with PASNAP for the past nine months. “We have reached agreements on a variety of issues,” said Rebecca Harmon, TUH spokeswoman. “At this time, however, we remain far apart on several key economic issues.”
But the agreement on those key economic issues seems distant, and in the meantime 850 out of town replacements have made their way to Philadelphia to take over the duties of those demanding a better contract. Harmon wouldn’t specify as to how much they’re paying these replacements but a flyer circulating online from a company called HealthSource Global Staffing shows the temporary workers were offered up to $10,338 per week to work during the strike.
“They are acting the way I expected,” said Maureen May, who has been with TUH for 26 years and is also president of the nurses union. “They want to break us. But they never believed we could stay united.” She said that the picket line has four shifts with up to 30 people manning it during each stint. But that figure does not include the support other organizations have provided. Last Thursday, members of the Media Mobilizing Project, the Philadelphia Student Union and Taxi Workers Alliance of Pennsylvania joined the picket line. “I’m here today because they want to take the nurses’ capability to speak out,” said Justin Carter, 17, a PSU member from West Philly High. “As a teenager, as a student I have experienced this and I’m tired they’re trying to get our voices silenced.”
Harmon didn’t produce an answer when asked if the non-disparagement could be an infringement on the nurses First Amendment rights. But this sole issue has drawn criticism from the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania. Earlier this week, Witold Walczak, legal director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania, told the Chicago Tribune that TUH is “simply dressing up a gag order in fancy clothes.”
