UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital nurses seek union election
Citing concerns about inadequate staffing and quality patient care, nurses at UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital announced their desire to unionize during an outside rally on Thursday.
One by one, nurses stood at the podium and expressed their reasons for wanting to unionize, stressing it's not about them but their patients.
"You can either see the light or you can feel the heat. One way or another, this election is happening," said Allegheny/Fayette Central Labor Council President Darrin Kelly.
It's being called the largest organizing effort by nurses in recent history in Pennsylvania.
The nearly 1,000 nurses at Magee-Womens made it official at an outdoor rally, calling on UPMC leaders for a timely and fair election without interference.
"What we're aiming for is to be able to give more time, more attention, to really have more of a human connection with our patients," said ICU nurse Paige Wingard.
Wingard and other nurses say they are lacking the staff and resources to deliver the care their patients need and deserve. She said UPMC has told them time and time again that additional staff and supplies are not in the budget.
"But we all see UPMC purchasing Super Bowl commercials, flying jets to Boca Raton and paying $30 million to a retired CEO who hasn't worked in years," said nurse Jean Stone, an OB nurse in the labor and delivery and neonatal ICU units.
She said in her decade-plus career at Magee, she's seen nurses go above and beyond to care for their patients, but hasn't seen anything in return from the top execs. Despite their requests, she says their voices are not being heard.
"I believe that it's time that nurses and advanced practitioners have a real place at the table to make decisions on how we get to do our work," said midwife Melissa Deicas.
In response to the union push, UPMC says the hospital uses flexible scheduling for each shift based on patient acuity to make real-time, evidence-based staffing decisions.
They also pointed out that the hospital has a resource pool of 31 nurses who help fill the staffing gaps.
