Essential Workers Call on Hospitals to Be Transparent and Negotiate How Federal Tax Dollars Are Distributed
For Immediate Release: March 24, 2022
Contact: scott.vogel@seiuhcpa.org; or karen.gownley@seiuhcpa.org
(Harrisburg, PA) – On March 23rd the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services released the specific amounts that hospitals and health systems will receive from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), federal tax dollars sent to states to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.
SEIU Healthcare PA’s essential caregivers, nurses and member leaders launched a successful grassroots campaign to win $225 million in ARPA funds when HB 253 passed unanimously by both legislative chambers and signed by Governor Wolf.
The bill invests in the state’s frontline healthcare workforce by putting money into the pockets of essential workers through retention bonuses, student loan forgiveness for nurses, and other measures to keep skilled healthcare workers from leaving the workforce because of low-wages and the catastrophic short-staffing crisis. The law also included clear and transparent rules for hospitals to distribute these funds directly to workers and not to be used for hospital executives, management consultants, or other business operations.
In response to DHS’ announcement, Matthew Yarnell, President of SEIU Healthcare PA, issued the following statement.
“Now that hospitals and major health systems have received their specific amounts of ARPA COVID relief, frontline caregivers look forward to sitting down with management to decide how best to distribute the funds in ways that help workers and our communities.
“Let’s be crystal clear: the state legislature specifically said these funds must go directly to the essential workers who sacrificed and risked their own health, well-being, and families during this global pandemic. Hospitals must deliver on the bill’s stated goal and intention.
“Through our union, SEIU frontline caregivers will sit down with hospital executives and managers to negotiate over how these funds will be invested in workers, including the possibility of creating side agreements or reviewing union contracts to make sure that essential workers receive fair pay, retention bonuses, improved benefits, and other support that workers have earned.
“Nurses and frontline workers risked their health and safety, as well as their families, by caring for patients and our communities during a pandemic that has taken over 44,000 Pennsylvania lives and devastated the healthcare workforce. With new COVID variants such as Omicron BA.2 evolving, hospitals need to act to guard against new potential outbreaks and rebuild the essential workforce to support families and communities.
“Essential workers need living wages, an end to the catastrophic short-staffing crisis, and to be respected based on our experience delivering quality care. These are the core solutions that the hospital industry must adopt.
“Sitting down and listening to healthcare leaders about how to best use these ARPA funds is the first and necessary step forward. Workers, families, and communities deserve no less.”
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SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania is the state’s largest and fastest-growing union of nurses and healthcare workers, uniting tens of thousands of professional and technical employees, direct care workers, and service employees in hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, home- and community-based services, and state facilities across the Commonwealth. SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania members are committed to improving the lives of health care workers and ensuring quality care and healthy communities for all Pennsylvanians.
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