January 21, 2016
Contributed Art/Creative Commons
The Center City Campus of Hahnemann Hospital. On the far left are the apartment building. On the far right is the New College Building, the site of classrooms and offices. In the middle are the North and South towers where the patients are housed.
Nurses at Philadelphia's Hahnemann Hospital voted Thursday to unionize in a move that will join 850 employees with the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals.
An election conducted Tuesday and Wednesday by the National Labor Relations Board resulted in a 516 to 117 decision to unionize registered nurses at the hospital located at 230 North Broad Street, according to CNBC.
Prior to the vote, nurses had objected to poor working conditions, subpar equipment, inadequate staffing, and ineffective scheduling.
Hahnemann Hospital, owned by Tenet Healthcare, falls under the umbrella of one of the largest for-profit operators in the United States.
The decision comes on the heels of a similar vote to unionize by 330 nurses at Drexel Hill's Delaware County Memorial Hospital. Another 450 nurses at North Philadelphia's St. Christopher's Hospital for Children will vote on whether to unionize in February.
