More than 1,600 technical, service and clerical workers at Allegheny General Hospital led a rally with community members just days after workers won a $15/hour minimum base wage for critical frontline staff at Allegheny Health Network hospitals.
?Three years ago, AGH technical, clerical and service workers first joined in their union and a first-ever contract to help make sure every job can support a family and increase pay to a $15/hour average wage.
Since then, AHN is more profitable than ever and together with Highmark is leading a $1 billion expansion effort. AGH nursing aides, technicians, pharmacy aides, cooks, housekeepers and other workers are now bargaining for their next contract and are saying they are focused on ensuring workers share in AHN’s burgeoning success.
Noreen Deily, a respiratory therapist, said: “Allegheny General Hospital is my second home, this is where I met my husband and where both my children were born. I’ve worked here for 38 years. AGH is a level 1 trauma center, providing very complex and specialized care that few hospitals care, so we need to recruit and retain the most talent and experienced frontline staff in the city.”