Registered nurses, nurses aides, dietary, housekeeping and other service workers at Allegheny Valley Hospital (AVH) ratified a new three-year union contract with the hospital that focuses on the recruitment and retention of new staff by making significant improvements in pay, as well as staffing across the hospital.
The Union and Hospital were committed to recognizing the important contribution of all hospital workers and creating strong family-sustaining jobs in our communities. The average wage for service workers will rise from $14.20 to $19.28 over the 3-year contract. For registered nurses, both sides were committed to negotiating pay that will attract and retain the best nurses to serve our patients, resulting in almost 12% in raises.
Included in this were additional steps in the pay scale to reward and retain experienced and dedicated hospital employees who play a critical role in operations, and also to help the hospital stay competitive in recruiting more dedicated staff to serve our community.
“We’re very excited about this new contract because it will help us recruit the new staff that we urgently need, but it also helps us hold on to our most experienced staff,” said Jane Davis, a 23-year employee in the Lab. “Some of us have dedicated decades of our lives to this hospital, and in many ways, we’re the backbone of the hospital. We need to keep that experience right here at Allegheny Valley.”
The new contract also reflects investments by management to provide additional staffing in each unit of the hospital so nurses and aides will have fewer patients, and to ensure that as healthcare demands are changing in our community that AVH can provide the highest quality of care and best patient experience.
“Every staff member in our hospital – from nurses to aides – wants to give their very best to each patient. With these staffing improvements, we’ll be able to spend more time with our patients and deliver the top quality care our community deserves,” said Mary Kuniak, a registered nurse with 14 years of service at the hospital.
The contract covers nearly 600 employees at Allegheny Valley Hospital and will expire in 2021. SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania represents 3,500 nurses and service workers across the Allegheny Health Network.