Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals - Organizing

Organizing

PASNAP's initial organizing efforts were not successful. The union formed a loose association with SEIU 1199P to organize workers wall-to-wall at hospitals near existing collective bargaining units or which provided enhanced collective bargaining power to existing locals. The union's first organizing campaign was among a unit of 252 licensed practical nurses (LPNs), and two units of other workers (47 business office workers and 140 technical and professional workers), at Wyoming Valley Hospital. SEIU attempted to organize the service and maintenance employees. Management asked The Burke Group, a notorious anti-union consultant, to advise the hospital on strategy and tactics. The LPNs rejected the union by a mere six votes, leading PASNAP leaders to decry what they saw as "widespread illegal behavior on the part of the employer." PASNAP entered into contract negotiations with the hospital. But three years later, the technical and professional workers decertified the union when no contract was signed.

PASNAP did not attempt to organize another collective bargaining unit until 2005. The union's next foray into organizing was a small one. In July 2005, the union organized 17 nurses, nurse practitioners and physician assistants at the Delaware County, Pennsylvania, George W. Hill Correctional Facility. In March 2006, the union organized a small unit of 40 registered nurses and technicians at Wills Eye Surgical Center in Philadelphia.

The union quickly expanded its organizing program. In May 2007, 275 registered nurses at Jeanes Hospital (a member of the Temple University Health System) voted to join PASNAP. On July 19, 2007, 400 nurses at Community Medical Center in Scranton voted overwhelmingly to join PASNAP. The election was the largest nurses' organizing victory in Pennsylvania since over 700 registered nurses at Altoona Regional Health System joined SEIU two months earlier. In June 2009 nurses and other healthcare professionals at Fair Acres Geriatric Center voted 125 to 70 in favor of joining PASNAP.