Nursing home workers at 24 facilities throughout Pa. issue notices to strike
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Workers at two dozen nursing home facilities across Pennsylvania have sent out notices that they intend to strike.
SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania says Guardian Healthcare and two chains owned by Mordy Lahasky, Comprehensive Healthcare and Priority Healthcare, have refused to bargain in good faith.
"This workforce has been through so much," said SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania President Matt Yarnell. "They've been called heroes. Now's the time to pony up and make these good jobs."
Healthcare workers at facilities like The Grove at Irwin, The Grove at New Castle, The Grove at Washington, Beaver Valley Healthcare and Rehab and Clarion Health and Rehab voted to send out strike notices for unfair labor practices.
"We as a union want to make sure that people get good high-quality care, workers have a seat at the table through their union, and we want these careers to be good careers," said Yarnell. "We want the people to be protected, respected, paid and staffed."
The strike notice involves issues related to the use of agency staff or the regulatory staffing ratios set to go into effect this year.
The union says management also offered lower raises than last year, despite nursing homes receiving $600 million in state funding. Yarnell said they need to set minimum wages to $16 an hour for ancillary people who do the housekeeping and maintain a safe space.
"We need to set wage minimums for certified nursing assistants," said Yarnell. "Twenty dollars an hour walking in the door and we think we have to set minimums of $25 for nurses, and those are minimums. We also need to get significant increases for people who have been there."
The workers have a list of demands including a substantial increase in wages, employer-paid health insurance and ensuring employers follow new state regulations.
"They need to be able to put their family on their healthcare," said Yarnell. "Many of these folks caught COVID, took it home to their families and couldn't cover their families with their care," said Yarnell.
By law, nursing home administrators must receive a 10-day notice before a strike. If nothing changes and the two sides don't come to an agreement, the strikes will begin on Sept. 2.
"Nobody wants to go on strike on Sept. 2, and at the same time, I think our members are really righteously angry," said Yarnell. "We've done all this work. We fought so hard. We want to make these good jobs and we're met with tremendous resistance to invest."
Yarnell said they'll continue to have conversations with the companies.
KDKA reached out to Guardian Healthcare for comment but hasn't heard back yet. KDKA was unable to get in contact with anyone from Comprehensive Healthcare and Priority Healthcare because of their lack of contact information.