Nurses and nurse practitioners at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s (UPMC) Magee-Womens Hospital in Pittsburgh are pushing back against the hospital giant having hired Ogletree Deakins, a high profile “union avoidance” law firm.
In the 1970’s, Ogletree Deakins represented J.P. Stevens, a southern textile manufacturer known for purchasing mills in order to close them and avoid a unionized workforce. This is also where the real life Norma Rae worked and helped inspire the award-winning 1979 movie.
These types of anti-union law firms exist to delay and undermine union elections and the collective bargaining process, and they come with a hefty price tag.
“ The amount of money that was spent trying to stop us from doing something that is our right as Americans to do was highly offensive,” Jean Stone, an 11-year UPMC nurse, said in an interview.
“ UPMC is a nonprofit that’s heavily subsidized by public funds, and they could have been using that money to invest in bedside care, invest in the nursing profession and do some of the things that we were asking for. Instead, they preferred to spend this money with Ogletree Deakins, who exist solely to stop unions from forming.”
