FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 21, 2024
Contact: Matt Richards, 412-512-4943
Pittsburgh – Nurses from West Penn Hospital, Allegheny Valley Hospital, Western Psychiatric Hospital, and Heritage Valley Beaver kicked off their union contract negotiations with a press conference today outside West Penn Hospital. They were joined by Mayor Ed Gainey, State Senator Jay Costa, and State Representative Lindsay Powell who pledged to support the nurses in their efforts to win new standards for nurses across the region.
This summer, nurses at West Penn, Western Psych, Allegheny Valley, and Heritage Valley Beaver will be negotiating simultaneously, coordinating, and fighting to expand on what nurses achieved at Allegheny General Hospital. In those contract negotiations, AGH nurses won historic investments to retain experienced nurses and increased start rates to $40 an hour. Nurses from the four hospitals negotiating this summer are seeking to bring the investments won at AGH to their hospitals to raise standards across the region so that patient care is the priority in all western PA hospitals.
“Everyone in our region, from Bloomfield to Beaver, depends on nurses in our hospitals to care for them in their greatest time of need. But after years of health system CEOs and insurance executives putting profits before patient care, a crisis has been created at the bedside. Nurses are leaving the profession daily because we are constantly being asked to do more and more with less and less,” said West Penn registered nurse Mackenzie Reed who led the press conference.
In many hospitals, the revolving door of nurses is still spinning fast. Many nurses stay just long enough to get a little experience and then move on to higher-paying jobs elsewhere. Union nurses are determined to stop the churn, retain experienced nurses, and professionalize bedside nursing.
“We have negotiated enforceable staffing levels in our union contract, and we collaborate with nursing administration to address staffing challenges as they come up, but we know that to consistently meet our staffing levels, we need to invest in recruiting and keeping nurses. Big challenges require big solutions,” said Lisa Colitruglio, a cardiopulmonary nurse at Heritage Valley Beaver.
“We’re always strong and united when we go into negotiations at Allegheny Valley Hospital. But as we see these hospital corporations getting bigger and bigger and the crisis in nursing getting worse and worse, we know that we will be even stronger by uniting with nurses from across the region to confront the challenges we face,” said CJ Kvorek, a registered nurse in Allegheny Valley Hospital’s emergency room.
SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania represents 588 registered nurses at West Penn Hospital, 113 registered nurses at Western Psychiatric Hospital, 381 registered nurses at Heritage Valley Beaver, and 168 registered nurses at Allegheny Valley Hospital.
–END–
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 healthcare workers and ensuring quality care and healthy communities for all Pennsylvanians.
seiuhcpa.org — www.facebook.com/seiuhcpa — twitter.com/seiuhcpa