Ann Twomey

Who is Ann Twomey?

Ann Twomey is president of the Health Professionals and Allied Employees, a health care affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO.

Born in 1951, Twomey received her associate degree in nursing from Fairleigh Dickinson University in 1971. She graduated later than year from the Englewood Hospital School of Nursing in Englewood, New Jersey.

In 1971, she began work as a medical-surgical nurse specializing in oncology and cardiac care. She also served as charge nurse and preceptor of newly hired nurses, and helped create patient teaching programs.

In 1975, she helped form a union, the Englewood Hospital Nurses Association, at Englewood Hospital. She led two strikes at the hospital. Englewood Hospital management repeatedly tried to break the union. In July 1976, the hospital suspend Twomey for refusing to wear a nurse's cap. Twomey pointed out that men were not required to wear one.

In 1978, Twomey's union and others she had helped organize formed the Health Professionals and Allied Employees. She was elected the statewide union's president.

In 1994, Twomey was named Labor Leader of the Year by the Rutgers University Labor Education Department.

In 1996, Twomey received the New Jersey Governor's Award for Labor Excellence.