Unionized nurses at UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital will propose unit-by-unit staffing standards Tuesday as they bargain with their employer for a first contract.
Roughly 900 registered nurses and advanced practitioners are seeking mandatory patient-to-nurse ratios based on recommendations from various professional organizations, such as the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses.
“The lack of evidence-based, nationally recognized staffing standards forces nurses to constantly rush through their duties, causing moral injury, exhaustion and burnout,” Service Employees International Union Healthcare Pennsylvania said in a statement Monday.
Under the union’s proposal, nurses could not be assigned at one time more than one woman in active labor, two newborns requiring intensive care or five patients in the medical-surgical unit, among other restrictions.
UPMC generally does not staff Magee to these standards, which would improve patient care and reduce employee burnout, according to the union.
Retaining nurses is an industry-wide problem, with more than 200,000 of them telling the National Council of State Boards of Nursing in a 2024 survey they plan to leave the field by 2029.
About half that group is retiring and the other half is leaving, with many citing working conditions. Of those who participated in the survey, 47,000 of 216,000 cited understaffing.
UPMC did not immediately return a request for comment.
The proposal would allow nurses to file grievances if the ratios are not upheld. These complaints would be reviewed by a neutral arbitrator. The nurses union at Allegheny General Hospital has a similar arrangement, but enforceable staffing standards are the exception across Western Pennsylvania hospitals.
The union argues UPMC’s strong financial results last year, which include a $286 million operating gain, illustrate the vast resources at the health care giant’s disposal to ensure safe staffing levels.
Two sets of Magee nurses voted decisively to unionize in August and September. Both groups started collective bargaining with UPMC in January in pursuit of separate contracts.
From the start of the union drive, many nurses at Magee cited understaffing as their top issue. It’s a familiar refrain from nurses across the country.
Workload was one of the sticking points animating the New York City nurses strike earlier this year, which involved nearly 15,000 union members. The walkout ended last month with new labor agreements for the nurses.
Located in Pittsburgh’s Oakland neighborhood, Magee is a pillar of women’s health care in Western Pennsylvania, offering robust obstetrics and gynecology services as well as cancer care.
UPMC says more than 10,000 babies are born at the hospital each year — just under half of all births in Allegheny County. More than 1,500 seriously ill infants come through its neonatal intensive care unit each year.