When the final vote was counted, cheers rose up from the crowd. 300 registered nurses at Alle-Kiski Medical Center had voted to join our union, have a stronger voice in the future of the hospital, and to improve patient care.
“This is absolutely fantastic,” exclaimed Maria Radvansky, an RN in the hospital’s emergency room. “We’re going to move forward and work with management to make this the best hospital in the valley.”
Alle-Kiski Medical Center is in the same health system as Allegheny General Hospital where close to 1500 nurses have been members of SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania for the last 10 years. Many of the AGH nurses spent numerous hours with the AKMC nurses explaining the benefits of forming a union.
Marcee Buecker was one of the AGH nurses who helped the AKMC nurses organize.
“At Allegheny General, we’ve won minimum nurse-to-patient ratios. We have a Nurse Collaboration Council that works with management to address nurses’ concerns about patient care. Now that the nurses at Alle-Kiski have their union, we can work with West Penn Allegheny Health System to improve patient care across western Pennsylvania,” said Buecker.
“The support from the AGH nurses has been amazing. Them sharing what they have achieved and knowing what their union has meant for them, was really inspiring to us,” said Bob Sylvester, from AKMC’s endoscopy department.
With this vote behind them, the AKMC nurses will be getting ready to start bargaining their contract with the hospital. But for now, it’s still time to celebrate.
“I think tomorrow, when we walk into the hospital, the mood and the spirit in the hospital is going to be ecstatic,” said Jill Kochman who works on the hospital’s IV team. “This is an amazing victory.”