September 26 2014

After fi ve straight days of chants, marching, and honking

horns, Upland Avenue was calm this morning. The nurses

of the Crozer-Chester Nurses Association went back in

together, this time dressed in scrubs, not red t-shirts and

picket signs. Smiling and energized at 6:59 am, we put on

our new “100% CCNA” buttons and walked back into our

hospital united.

Still fresh in all of our minds were the words of our

colleagues and supporters during the End of Lockout Rally

from the day before.

Staff Rep. Andrew Gaffney kicked the rally off by thanking

our incredible picket captains and

bargaining committee for their

hard work and commitment that

resulted in 100% participation

in our strike. Not one Crozer

nurse crossed our picket line and

every single member should be

commended for such a powerful

show of force.

Our President Bobbi McClay (SPU) praised all the nurses

for being “relentless, dedicated, and experts at what you

do.” She continued, “When we walk through those doors

tomorrow, we take our hospital back, we take our patients

back, and we give them 100%.” She rightly noted that this

is just the beginning of our struggle, not the end.

Then Ruth Hansell (2S) and Ron Whitehorne (PASNAP

President Patty Eakin’s husband) sang a duet of the nurses’

version of “Solidarity Forever.”

Nancy Minor, the Vice President of the Steelworkers Local

10-1, spoke words of solidarity and criticized Crozer for

paying its executives millions of dollars even though “they

will never hold a patient’s hand.”

State Representative Thaddeus Kirkland from Chester was

back to reiterate his support, commending us for showing

“dedication to this community, your patients and your

Back to Work - Crozer Nurses 100%by Emily Rodriguez, PASNAP Staff

FAA Investigating Crozer

by Andrew Gaffney, PASNAP Staff Representative

Late afternoon Wednesday we had a special guest come to the picket line, but fi rst he made a stop at Crozer’s

helipad. It was none other than an investigator from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). He was called in

to investigate if Crozer violated the law for their “Practice Landings,” which happened to coincide with our Sunday

picket and Monday rally.

The investigation will take some time and Crozer will have to answer why they thought it would be a good idea to

land a helicopter 100 yards away from 1,000 people holding a rally and peacefully protesting their illegal behavior.

Why didn’t they cancel the “practice” when they knew we would be there? Why were they unconcerned about the

safety of their nurses and the public who joined us?

The nurses want answers to these questions, IBEW Local 98 Business Manager John Dougherty and Congressman

Brady wants answers to these questions, and now the FAA wants answers, too.

100%

1 Fayette Street, Suite 475

Conshochoken, PA 19428

GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING OCTOBER 7th.

7:30 am, 1pm, 4pm, 7:30pm,

IBEW Hall, 3729 Chichester Ave, Boothwyn, PA 19061

hospital, even though your

hospital isn’t always dedicated

to you.” He assured us that

we sent a strong message, and

“when you stick together, right

will always prevail.”

Next Dan Embon, whose

mother recently passed away,

wanted to come and thank the

nurses who had cared for her

when she was in the ICU. With

a tremble in his voice, he said,

“Keep up the great work and

take care of the people in there

tomorrow.”

State Representative Margo

Davidson from Upper Darby expressed her love for nurses,

without whom there is not quality patient care.

Robert DeCicco, Executive Vice President of Local 16-N

GCC/IBT and husband of Gabe DeCicco (Tele) recognized

the hard work of the bargaining committee and the

impressive unity of the nurses. “When you walk through

the doors tomorrow, you will be even more united.”

CCNA Secretary Leslie Heygood (STU) said that now

she understands what everyone means when they say how

strong our union is. From the most senior to the least senior

nurse, “we’re going to go back in and clean up our house.”

Congressman Bob Brady said that it was his duty and

honor to be here for us. He expressed his astonishment at

how uncaring Crozer is acting. “Cut staff? You need more

staff. The patients need you!”

PASNAP President Patty Eakin, RN, asked us all to think

about what was happening at Crozer as part of a battle on a

bigger front. “There is an election coming up in November,

and we have choices to make between people who are

going to help us and those that want to steal from us to line

their own pockets.” She encouraged us to use this energy

from the past fi ve days to contact our legislators and get

nurse-to-patient ratios passed in Pennsylvania.

Bill Cruice, PASNAP Executive Director, said Crozer had

outrageously lashed out at the community and other, while

we, “as nurses, as a union, demonstrated in a powerful

way” that we are united .He stressed that if they would

just come around and work with us to improve staffi ng, we

could have a deal.

We know this is another step in the long march to our

contract. Come to the October 7th membership meeting to

fi nd our next steps and what you can do to make sure that

our patients get the care they deserve and we receive a fair

contract.

Thank You!To everyone who fed & supplied us, walked our picket

line, wrote a letter of support, or attended a rally!

AFSCME DC 88

Alan Davis

CCNA Nurses

Chef Lamont

Chester Fire Department

Chichester Fire Company

Corrine Taylor

CWA Local 13000

Danielle Clark

Dave Adams

Delco Chairman Tom McGarrigle

Dr. Allen Gabroy

Dr. Stephen Higgins

Ernie Derrickson

Fight for Philly

GCC/IBT Local 16-N

IAFF Local 1400

IBEW Local 614

IBEW Local 98

Joe Innemer

John Dougherty

Jonathan Walters

Kara Rooney

Keith Butler

Laborers Local 413

Lori Schmidt

Mark Mervine

Mary Ellen Balchunis

Massachusetts Nurses

Nancy Minor (USW)

NYPNU

Operating Engineers Local 542

PA Working Families

PASNAP CrozerParamedics

PASNAP Fair Acres Nurses

PASNAP Fitz Nurses

PASNAP Temple Nurses

PASNAP Wilkes-Barre Nurses

Philadelphia AFL-CIO

PSEA

Put People First

Rebellious Nurses

Ron Whitehorne

SEIU Healthcare PA

SEIU Local 668

St Luke’s CC

State Rep. Margo Davidson

State Rep. Steve Barrar

State Rep. Thaddeus Kirkland

State Senator Daylin Leach

Teamsters Local 107

TWU Local 234

UAW Local 1069

UFCW Local 1776

Unite-Here

Upland City Council

Upland Mayor Mike Ciach

Upland Police

Upper Darby Councilman Jamie Santora

US Congressman Bob Brady

US Senator Bob Casey

USW 10-1

Wendell Young IV

Bobbi McClay and her

grandson Will, who led the

chants at our Thursday rally

PASNAP Endorses

Tom Wolf

As union health care workers, we need to

work hard to elect Tom Wolf governor on

November 4th. Election day should be one

of the most important days on your calendar.

Why?

There are many reasons but I will try to

highlight a few:

First of all, our current governor, Tom Cor-

bett, is very anti-union. He has promised to

sign legislation that would be the death knell

for us. For example, House Bill 1507 would

make it illegal for us to collect union dues

by payroll deduction. Imagine if your union

rep had to go around monthly and try to

collect dues from you and your co-workers.

It wouldn't happen, at least not consistently,

and it would divert a lot of resources and

energy away from other responsibilities. We

would not have the money to hire staff and

bargain contracts. The benefi ts you take

for granted, like regular salary increases,

vacation time, and the ability to get together

with your co-workers and fi ght for changes

without fear of intimidation, would be gone.

Tom Wolf is a friend of unions and has

Elaina Adams (CC Pool), Janet Dwyer (2N),

Kathy Toomey (Endo), and Deb McDermott (2S)

on the picket line for safe staffi ng

pledged to oppose any such legislation that

is opposed to unions and working people.

A central piece of our legislative fi ght has

been safe nurse to patient ratios. We are

promoting House Bill 963 for safe staffi ng.

Corbett and his party have opposed the bill

every step of the way. Wolf has endorsed it,

and says if we can get it passed, he will sign

it.

Wolf has also endorsed our Workplace Vio-

lence Prevention bill, saying that no health

care worker should worry about safety while

on the job. Corbett has not endorsed it.

Also, we have had great diffi culty in pushing

the Department of Labor and Industry to en-

force the law banning mandatory overtime,

particularly in northeast PA. This is solely

the result of Corbett's political appointments

to the this department. Wolf, by contrast,

has committed to fi xing the problem.

And for many of us with families or who are

concerned about the attacks on the work-

ing class, Corbett has been a disaster. His

cutbacks in education and his refusal to tax

the Marcellus Shale drillers has devastated

the state's public education system, and no

where greater than in Philadelphia. Wolf

will tax shale at 5% and use it to fund the

schools in the state.

None of us can afford to sleep through this

election. While Wolf is ahead in the polls,

we have to ensure that it translates to victory

on November 4th. Corbett is for corpora-

tions, not for unions and working people.

TUHNA and TAP will be participating with

all of the other labor unions in the city in

neighborhood walks, talking to other labor

neighbors. We will be meeting at 9am at the

Sprinkler Fitters Local 692, 14002 McNulty

Rd, Philadelphia 19154, then fanning out in

groups to various neighborhoods. Our dates

are Saturdays, October 4th and October

25th.

We will also be doing phone banking to our

own PASNAP members, asking them to

vote for Wolf on the 4th. If you can't do the

neighborhood walks with other labor mem-

bers, then sign up for the phone banking for

October 23rd and 30th, in the Conshohocken

offi ce from 5pm to 8:30 pm. Of course, there

is always room for super stars who want to

do all four events!

You can sign up for any of these events by

calling the TUHNA/TAP offi ce on Park

Avenue at 215-227-5123, or by calling staff

reps Bill Zoda at 215-527-2003 or John

Campbell-Orde at 202-302-4019.

– Patricia Eakin, RN

PASNAP President

Join the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses & Allied Professionals

Safe Staffi ng & Workplace Violence Prevention

How Direct Care Nurses Can

Join Together to Protect Our

Patients and Ourselves

for a CEU Conference :

OCTOBER 9, 2014www.pennanurses.org

Safe Staffing saves lives, but all over the state we see hospitals trying to lower costs by cutting staff and stretching RNs too thin.

At the same time, Workplace Violence in healthcare settings continues to increase. We have been physically harmed and verbally threatened. Even fatal

assaults, like the recent shooting at Mercy Fitzgerald, are on the rise.

How can direct care nurses join together to protect ourselves

and our patients? Find out on October 9, 2014

8:45 am- 9:15 am Registration

9:15 am- 10:30 am Nurse Staffi ng Research: What do we know and where do we go from here?

PRESENTER: Matthew D. McHugh PhD, JD, MPH, RN, FAAN

Purpose: Provide an overview of the current state of the science on nurse staffi ng

and its relationship to nurse and patient outcomes. Emerging areas including

implications of the Affordable Care Act and the business case for staffi ng will be

discussed.

10:30 am- 12:00 pm Panel Discussion on Staffi ng

12:00 pm- 1:00 pm Lunch Featuring District Attorney Jack Whelan (Delaware County)

1:00 pm- 4:00 pm Preventing Workplace Violence in Healthcare Settings

PRESENTER: Margaret E. O’Connor MMHC, RN, COHN, HRM

Purpose: Enable the nurse to recognize and address workplace violence that

affects the nurse’s health and safety and the well-being of their patients.

To register for this program, contact Emily at emily@pennanurses.org or 610-567-2907

x113 with the following information: First & Last Name, Hospital/Facility and Unit, Phone

Number, Email, and Mailing Address.

Thursday, October 9, 2014 8:45 am to 4:00 pm

Valley Forge Casino & Hotel, 1160 1st Ave, King of Prussia, PA 19406

3 Contact Hours will be provided by the Massachusetts Nurses Association.

There is no fee for this program. Lunch will be provided at no cost to attendees.