The newly formed nurses unions at UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital will get to flex their power at the bargaining table for the first time Wednesday.
Their priorities for their inaugural contracts include stronger health insurance, longer paid parental leave and better pay for experienced staff.
But their top ask — a common theme for nurses across the country — is improved staffing levels.
Right now, nurses at the hospital in Pittsburgh’s Oakland neighborhood say they’re often running from patient to patient doing the bare minimum.
“Having the time to actually, truly assess, get to know, form those connections is super important,” said Jenna Berry, a registered nurse who works at the hospital’s cancer center. “We’re looking to really elevate patient care.”
Specifically, they’re hoping to implement patient-to-nurse ratios based on the recommendations of the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses.
For instance, the association says a nurse should have no more than three mother-baby couplets in the postpartum period, or no more than one patient during active labor.
“These are evidence-based, nationally recognized ratios that we are rarely, if ever, inside of,” said Lucy Ruccio, a nurse practitioner in Magee’s neonatal intensive care unit.
The start of bargaining at Magee comes as nearly 15,000 nurses in New York City strike, citing similar complaints of poor staffing levels and pay.
The walkout had no end in sight as of Friday afternoon, the New York Times reported, with representatives from the nurses’ union and NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia Hospital digging in for a lengthy contract battle.
“It really feels like a historic moment, just nationally,” Ruccio said. “And it’s thrilling to be a part of.”
Novel experience
In August, more than 800 nurses voted to unionize at Magee, a regional pillar of women’s health care that delivers more than 10,000 babies a year
About 60 advanced practioners did the same the following month.
They’ll both start collective bargaining Wednesday, but in pursuit of separate contracts. It’s a process that could span a few months or a year-plus depending on how bargaining sessions go.
“We are not going to settle for less than patients deserve,” Berry said.
Magee nurses are being supported by Service Employees International Union Healthcare Pennsylvania, which says it’s the state’s fastest-growing union of nurses and other medical workers.
The group has helped workers at other Pittsburgh-area hospitals reach first contracts with their employers, including at Allegheny Health Network’s West Penn Hospital in 2021.
The Magee contract talks will be something of a novel experience for UPMC, though.
The sprawling health care network owns hospitals with unionized nurses — including Western Psychiatric Hospital, UPMC Altoona and UPMC McKeesport — but nurses have never unionized and gotten a first contract on its watch.
UPMC did not return a request for comment.
The organization has stated its commitment to a productive relationship with the union on several occasions, even as it pushed back on claims of nurse understaffing and burnout.
Information previously provided by UPMC indicated nursing turnover at Magee is 4.8%, compared to 16.7% at unionized hospitals within their system. The national average is around 16%.
Online survey
Union representatives will also try to extend the length of paid parental leave from two to 12 weeks and give veteran nurses pay better reflecting their seniority.
Nurses say some of their colleagues have spent decades working at Magee, but make just a few dollars more per hour compared to new hires.
There are also plans to push for across-the-board annual raises.
Service Employees International Union is launching an online survey next week where patients and nurses at other hospitals can help shape contract proposals.
Magee nurses expect that free parking for all patients will be a popular reply, as will more lactation support for new mothers.