Mike & Friends Blog
Donna Smith
Donna Smith, American SiCKO, is executive director of the Health Care for All Colorado Foundation
Temple Strike Day Four: In Your Easter Bonnet
PHILADELPHIA -- Well, it wasn’t an Easter parade coming through Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia, but it was a march by striking registered nurses and other Temple University Hospital health professionals that included lots of kids and family members deferring the activities that usually mark the spring holiday weekend.
On the fourth day of the strike by the 1,500 members of the PASNAP (Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals) bargaining unit at Temple, nurses with decades of service at the hospital vowed to continue their strike “as long as it takes” to get a fair contract and to be able to be the most effective patient advocates possible.
The PASNAP marchers made their way through the historic square adjacent to the luxury condominium home of Ann Weaver Hart, Temple’s CEO, who according to an early 2010 report in the Chronicle of Higher Education earns more than $602,000 annually but who is, according to the nurses, key architect of the plan to bust their union and avoid giving nurses the freedom to advocate for their patients and the fair benefits and compensation they deserve. The nurses have been working without a contract since last September while Hart’s current contract assures her of not only one of the highest salaries in the nation for university presidents but also grants her a car, a house and $75,000 in deferred compensation.
In the crowd of striking and marching nurses were grandmother Carol Kuehn, RN, her daughter Rachel Boss, RN, and her two grandchildren Alli, 6, and Danny, 4, all hoping to Easters eggs and baskets waiting for them soon. Just a few steps away, Marty Harrison, RN, watched as her son Lile fashioned his own Easter bonnet from a picket sign while his sister Tessa tried to keep arm’s length from her big brothers creativity.
Two nurses from the neonatal ICU at temple recounted their more than 60 combined years of treating “their babies” and stories of the atrocities occurring inside the hospital as non-striking workers are being told they can lose their jobs if they even speak to or in any way associate with the strikers. Clearly, Easter weekend at Temple does not include a spirit of peace and celebration of the rebirth of spring.
Outside CEO Hart’s condo, the strikers chanted, “Ann Hart you can’t hide, we can see your greedy side.” Neighbors of the well-heeled Temple CEO excited the building and some asked the marchers what the rally was all about. Nurses politely educated passersby of the issues and support in the square was overwhelming.
Click here to suggest an article
Mike's Blog
-
June 5th, 2013
Here's How We Built a Movie Theater for the People – and Why the MPAA Says It's #1 in the World
This past week, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), the main federation of Hollywood's six major studios, posted on their web site a list of what they believe ...
-
March 23rd, 2013
This evening is going be a big moment in turning our country around on the issue of gun violence. That's why I desperately want you ...
-
March 21st, 2013
I am hosting a nationwide series of house parties this Saturday night where tens of thousands of people will gather together in living rooms to ...
-
March 15th, 2013
The response to my Newtown letter this week has been overwhelming. It is so very clear to everyone that the majority of Americans have had ...
-
March 13th, 2013
America, You Must Not Look Away (How to Finish Off the NRA)
The year was 1955. Emmett Till was a young African American boy from Chicago visiting relatives in Mississippi. One day Emmett was seen "flirting" with ...
-
February 26th, 2013
My Final Word on Buzzfeed and Emad Burnat's Detention at LAX
Thanks to everyone for bearing with me as I spend so much time on what happened to Emad Burnat. It's important to me because he's ...
-
February 26th, 2013
Michael Moore Responds to Buzzfeed Story on '5 Broken Cameras' Co-Director Emad Burnat
On Tuesday, February 19th, Emad Burnat, the Palestianian co-director of the Oscar-nominated documentary '5 Broken Cameras,' was detained with his wife and son at Los ...
-
September 11th, 2010
If the 'Mosque' Isn't Built, This Is No Longer America
OpenMike 9/11/10 Michael Moore's daily blog I am opposed to the building of the "mosque" two blocks from Ground Zero. I want it built on ...
-
December 14th, 2010
Why I'm Posting Bail Money for Julian Assange
Yesterday, in the Westminster Magistrates Court in London, the lawyers for WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange presented to the judge a document from me stating that ...
-
May 12th, 2011
Some Final Thoughts on the Death of Osama bin Laden
"The Nazis killed tens of MILLIONS. They got a trial. Why? Because we're not like them. We're Americans. We roll different." – Michael Moore in ...
-
November 22nd, 2011
Where Does Occupy Wall Street Go From Here?
This past weekend I participated in a four-hour meeting of Occupy Wall Street activists whose job it is to come up with the vision and ...
-
September 22nd, 2011
A STATEMENT FROM MICHAEL MOORE ON THE EXECUTION OF TROY DAVIS
I encourage everyone I know to never travel to Georgia, never buy anything made in Georgia, to never do business in Georgia. I will ask ...
-
December 16th, 2010
Dear Swedish Government: Hi there -- or as you all say, Hallå! You know, all of us here in the U.S. love your country. Your ...
-
November 2nd, 2010
This letter contains (almost) no criticisms of how the Democrats have brought this day of reckoning upon themselves. That -- and where to go from ...
Comments
0