UPMC nurses make history by voting to unionize

Nurses at UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital became the first nurses to win a union election at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pennsylvania’s largest employer. 

Close to 1,000 nurses at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) Magee-Womens Hospital in Pittsburgh unionized last week, marking the first successful unionization effort in the hospital’s history. It was also the largest union election for nurses across the commonwealth in recent memory. 

After months of battling against an anti-union campaign by the hospital, the nurses voted 402 to 305 to join Service Employees International Union Healthcare Pennsylvania (SEIU HCPA).

UPMC is Pennsylvania’s largest employer, and the nurses encouraged their colleagues from around the state to join them in unionizing.

“My coworkers and I are absolutely overjoyed to finally win a union voice for our patients, our profession and our community,” Jenna Berry, a registered nurse at the Magee-Women’s Cancer Center with eight years of service to UPMC said in a statement. 

“We were incredibly inspired and thankful for the overwhelming support from our community, patients and elected officials,” she said.

“With continued support, we call on UPMC executives to respect the voice of the clear majority and begin negotiations with us right away.”

WESA reported in May that staffing ratios, or the number of patients a nurse cares for, played an important role in the organizing efforts. The Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses recommends a ratio of one nurse for one to two patients needing intensive care, but nurses at Magee manage more patients than that at once.  

Nurses are also pushing for more time with their patients, to have a say in the decision making process and have a retention system in place so they can have long careers at Magee. 

UPMC tried on multiple occasions to delay the vote.

Capital and Main reported that the hospital system tried excluding more than 20% of the nurses from the bargaining unit, stating that they were supervisors with leadership responsibilities, making them ineligible to be a part of the union. They also argued that President Donald Trump’s National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) lacked a quorum at the national level and impacted elections at the regional offices. 

Both of those arguments were tossed by the Pittsburgh NLRB, paving the way for the historic election. 

There will be a second union election at Magee-Womens Hospital in the coming weeks when 60 advanced practitioners, which include certified nurse practitioners, neonatal nurses and certified nurse midwives, decide whether or not they will join their colleagues.

“Magee nurses have spoken, and any further attempt to deny and delay their freedom to have a union voice is completely unacceptable,” US Rep. Summer Lee (D-Allegheny) said in a statement. 

“Now it’s time for UPMC to stop the delay tactics, recognize the nurses’ union, and immediately sit down to begin contract talks in good faith—just as other large health systems have done throughout the state, for the good of our entire region,” Lee said.