Welcome to our newly relaunched Nurse Alliance Newsletter! It is a priority for the Nurse Alliance to have improved communication with our members, and to develop nurse leaders across the state. We envision this to be interactive, including material and stories you all want to highlight. Please contribute your ideas and stories to denelle.korin@nursealliancepa.org. I look forward to enhancing our program and communications with your help!
In Solidarity,
– Denelle Korin, RN
Member Nurse Coordinator
Spotlight on Nurse Victories
Contract Victory at Geisinger Wyoming Valley
My name is Ryan Mallis, a nurse of 10 years, and I was on the bargaining committee for this year’s contract at Geisinger Wyoming Valley. We just settled a contract with wage increases of 18-21% and so much more, and I am proud of what we achieved.
Honestly, it did not occur to me that it was historic until someone from a nurse outlet was interviewing me and asked me about my reaction to “historic wage increases of 18-21%”, because I really look at the wage increase as just starting to address to the historic hardships nurses have endured at GWV since my career began. Each year has been harder than the last, with the last 2 years being the most challenging.
What I am even more proud of, though, is that we managed to include:
- Better language for using the PTO my coworkers earn
- Allowing nurses to take mental health days
- And we’re starting to have a conversation about improved mental health care provided to nurses at my hospitals.
My coworkers in the bargaining committee came to the negotiation table motivated and focused, maybe more intense than I would have ever thought, and when negotiations ended we truly had a massive victory under our belt.
It is my belief that we will keep our momentum and hope to show other nurses, chapters, and unions that by banding together with focus and intensity, we can achieve so much.
– Ryan Mallis, RN, Geisinger Wyoming Valley
Honoring our union siblings lost to Covid-19
As we enter the third year of the Covid-19 pandemic, join us in taking a moment to remember and honor our union brothers, sisters, and siblings who lost their lives to Covid-19. We continue to fight for the workplace safety, fair compensation, and voice in our profession that we needed and deserved even before this pandemic.
If we are missing one of your coworkers from this list, please let us know so that we may include them.
Upcoming Events
April 2-3: Nurses Community Canvass for Safe Staffing: Rep. Twardzik’s District, Meeting in Pottsville on 4/2 and 4/3
April 6: Join us for the next Nurse Leadership Meeting, the first Wednesday of each month from 5–6:30PM
April 9: SEIU 2022 Climate, Jobs, and Justice Summit
April 14: Member Training, Social Media 101: How clicks, views and viral memes can build a strong union
May 7: The Pittsburgh Hospital Workers March
May 7: GWV Nurses Community Health Fair
May 19-20: ANHE’s 2022 Nursing Summit on Environmental Health This event does have a registration fee, but we have set aside funds to cover up to five nurse members who want to attend. These registration fee grants will be first-come-first-serve. If you want to claim one of those five grant spots, please contact Denelle at denelle.korin@nursealliancepa.org to express your interest and ask if that is still available prior to registration.
Did you see this?
- The PA Department of Health has finally proposed new statewide regulations which better protect nursing home residents and workers against irresponsible owners with bad financial and regulatory histories who buy our facilities. Watch Tina Siegel LPN speak about the importance of these regulatory changes and add your name in support now.
- As a member of SEIU, you’ve got access to SEIU Member Benefits with plenty of discounts and benefits to check out and start saving!
- “Essential Workers Call on Hospitals to Be Transparent and Negotiate How Federal Tax Dollars Are Distributed”, a statement issue by HCPA President Matthew Yarnell.
- We published an “Open Letter for Safe Staffing” in 11 newspapers as full-page ads last month.
- In January, PA House Health Committee Chair Rep. Kathy Rapp claimed she hasn’t heard a “real grievance” about unsafe staffing in hospitals, and won’t let the Patient Safety Act advance, despite having been called, visited, and emailed by thousands of nurses over the years about this issue.
- Since the beginning of the pandemic, U.S. billionaires are 57% richer.
- “Nurses have power to advocate for all”, a letter in the Altoona Mirror by Angela Daniels, RN.
- Recently retired member Paula Stellabotte RN participated in the White House’s “Roundtable on the State of Labor Market Competition in the U.S. Economy”.
- President Biden’s Plan for Nursing Home Accountability Applauded by HCPA President Matthew Yarnell.
- 104 out of 200 sitting representatives in the Pennsylvania House support the Patient Safety Act (House Bill 106), to set safe staffing standards for PA’s hospitals.
- Nurses organized a Townhall on how the nurse staffing crisis is affecting our coummunity in House Health Committee Chair Kathy Rapp’s district to discuss the nurse staffing crisis, safe staffing laws, Rep. Rapp’s opposition to the Patient Safety Act, and what the community can do to help.
- President Matthew Yarnell: Health Committee Chair, Rep. Kathy Rapp, Needs to Respect Nurses and Our Bipartisan Majority
- “Patient Safety Act needs to be priority”, a letter from Breanna Sirko in the Altoona Mirror
- Times Leader: “Nurses ratify ‘historic’ union contract with Geisinger Health”
- New York Times Op-Ed: “We Know the Real Cause of the Crisis in Our Hospitals. It’s Greed.”