Mifflin county hospital workers deliver Christmas cards and flowers to avert strike

Geisinger hospital workers, tired of making $15.30 an hour, delivered Christmas cards and flowers to executives in order to avert a strike and win better wages. 

With the hopes of preventing a potential strike, hospital workers at the Geisinger Lewistown Hospital came up with a festive and creative way to try and settle their contract dispute by delivering Christmas cards to executives. They asked them to reflect on the holiday season and value those who keep the hospital operating. 

“When I’m taking care of patients this Christmas Eve, I’ll be worried about how to afford my next trip to the grocery store,” Paige Duncan, a patient transporter at Geisinger Lewistown Hospital, said in a statement. “I love this job taking care of my community, but at $15.30 an hour, I’m scraping to survive.

Hospital workers at Geisinger Hospital have been in contract talks with Kaiser, Geisinger’s parent company, for months, with their contract recently expiring on Nov. 14, 2025, and they voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike if contract demands are not met. 

The Christmas cards, which were sent to Geisinger and Kaiser-Permanente executives, highlighted the fact that cost of living has increased by more than 25% over the past five years while their wages, which are as low as $15.25 per hour, have not kept pace with the cost of living. 

Geisinger Lewistown Hospital is the largest employer in Mifflin County. According to the Living Wage Calculator from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), an individual with one child would need to make over $35 an hour to live comfortably in the area. 

“Poverty wages are not only hurting us, but also our community. It is extremely difficult to recruit and retain staff, making it hard to provide the care our patients deserve. To fill in these staffing gaps and make enough to survive, many of us work 60 hours or more a week,” the cards read.

Geisinger was recently acquired by Kaiser-Permanente, the country’s largest non-profit health care corporation in the US, and they certainly have the money to pay their workers. 

Kaiser raked in close to $8 billion in profits this year, while its CEO made close to $13 million in 2023. The top three executives at Geisinger made over $12.5 million in 2023, while the Geisinger Lewistown Hospital generated more than $26 million in profits in 2024. 

“It makes me angry that big corporations take advantage of American workers these days, but it’s especially upsetting in healthcare where our employer is supposed to be driven by a mission of compassion, Duncan said. 

“Working people should be able to share in the prosperity we help create. We need executives to pay us living wages so we can continue to do our jobs and be there for our patients.