Nurses’ union poised for big wins in Altoona
By Christina Lengyel | The Center Square
(The Center Square) – After months of pressure from the local nurses’ union, UPMC Altoona has tentatively agreed to major changes addressing staffing concerns.
A vote will be held Thursday for the Service Employees International Union Pennsylvania Healthcare members to ratify the contract, which has a three-year term.
The hospital is home to 500 nurses who are SEIU members. Demands from the organization reached a peak following the brutal attack of an emergency room technician in November. Nurses organized a campaign calling for measures that would emphasize recruitment and retention to bolster staffing while addressing safety concerns.
“The gains we’ve won will make our jobs much more sustainable, by helping us choose the shifts we prefer and take the time we need to be with our families,” Jaime Balsamo, a 17-year nurse at Altoona and president of the local SEIU chapter. “The agreement will also make our wages more competitive with other area hospitals so we can attract and keep nurses.”
Significantly, the new contract awards credit for past experience and an average raise of more than 18% with some going up to 27%. Starting wages for new nurses without a Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing, or BSN, will increase from $30 to $36 and for those with them to $37.50 over the course of the three year term. Casual nurses will see an increase from $30 to $38. Resource pool nurses who fill in gaps where needed in the hospital will see starting wages increase to $39.60 for those without a BSN and to $41.10 for those with one.
Changes to shift policy will allow nurses to better set their own availability regarding day, evening, and night shifts. This, members hope, will open doors to increase staffing with nurses who need more schedule flexibility to balance their work lives and home lives along with other responsibilities.
“During this process, we were able to advocate with management to finally implement many of the safety enhancements that we’ve been calling for over the past few years,” added Balsamo.
Those enhancements include increasing security staff and installing a weapons-detection system at the main hospital entrances with badge-only access to other entrances. Staff will receive “run, hide, fight” trainings and monthly meetings of the hospital’s workplace violence committee. Additionally, signs reminding people that assaulting a health care worker is a felony will be posted throughout the hospital.
The kind of extreme violence that led to Dunn’s injuries and the fatal shooting of Patrolman Andrew Duarte at UPMC Memorial Hospital in York last February has been rising nationwide. Lawmakers within the legislature have also made moves to try to combat the problem.
“It can’t just be part of the job,” said Rep. Arvind Venkat, D-Pittsburgh, an emergency room physician. “When health professionals are not empowered in their workplace to deal with their work conditions most fundamentally related to safety we will no longer have health professionals who are going to be able to care for us and our constituents in their time of need.”
In Altoona, the nurse union bargaining committee is recommending a yes vote for the contract that aims to help change those conditions.
