Temple Hospital Workers are protesting issues of understaffing, overworking, and inadequate wages. We interviewed Carlos Aviles, President of Temple Allied Professionals and a member of PASNAP to hear more about the state of Temple University Hospital.
Aviles has worked as a Pharmacy Technician at Temple Hospital for over thirteen years. His concern for patient care and frontline workers is palpable throughout the rally. Aviles admits that he has never experienced working conditions this substandard.
The absence of sufficient salaries is causing healthcare workers to leave at alarming rates. Aviles reveals, “Within the last 90 days, I’ve had 120 workers quit.” Additionally, Temple Hospital Administration is attempting to stabilize the staffing deficiency by overworking current staff.
Aviles continues, “You know we’re trying to make sure that we fix key issues that are affecting our levels of patient care. And it starts with staffing. It starts with trying to keep people here. And trying to make sure that we don’t have the high influx of turnaround and having too many people leave.”
These problems concern Aviles about the quality of patient care healthcare workers can provide under these obstacles. “I need to focus on patient care. I can’t focus on the bills I can’t pay or the hours that are being cut. Or me having to come to work seven days a week and being mandated, which happens now”.
The upcoming expiration of Temple Hospitals union labor contract is on September 30th. This opportunity poses a possibility for frontline workers to negotiate better working conditions with Temple Administration.
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