About 1,800 union service and clerical workers at four Pittsburgh-area hospitals will enter contract negotiations this spring demanding that their pay be increased to $20 an hour.
The workers from Allegheny General, Allegheny Valley, Washington and Frick hospitals said that the lack of a livable wage makes it difficult for them to support themselves and their families and for hospitals to hire and retain employees, leading to staffing shortages that have a negative impact on patient care.
“It’s typical for me to take care of between 20 and 30 patients by myself, and we’re often doing this while doing the jobs of several other people at the same time,” said Armand Kassam, a patient care tech at Allegheny General Hospital. “We definitely need more staff; that’s the biggest issue that we have right now. And in order to do that, we need to increase pay and make it [closer] to a living wage.”
Kassam was one of several hospital workers who spoke Tuesday at a news conference and union rally at the Community House Church in Central Northside about the hardships they face despite doing jobs that were deemed essential during the COVID-19 pandemic. They said that while a hospital job should be a pathway to the middle class, low wages and paltry benefits stop that from happening.
Lauren DeMeno, a patient care technician at Allegheny Valley Hospital, noted the irony of not being able to afford health insurance for her family even though she works full time in health care.
“Despite working at a hospital owned by a multibillion-dollar corporation, I’m still not able to afford health insurance for my family,” DeMeno said. “Most of the time, I don’t have money left over after paying for groceries and housing costs to afford the home repairs we need, much less for college tuition or to pay for a vacation with my kids.”
DeMeno is far from the only local hospital employee struggling to make ends meet, according to the workers.
At Allegheny General Hospital, Kassam said some workers rely on a food pantry to help supplement their income.
“It makes me upset that there’s a food pantry at the hospital for employees,” he said. “Nobody who works for a multibillion-dollar health care giant like AHN or UPMC should ever have to worry about buying food or paying bills. If you work in health care and dedicate your life to caring for others in this community, you should be cared for yourself.”
While pay varies among hospitals, patient care technician wages are typically in the ballpark of $16 an hour, workers said.
Dan Laurent, an Allegheny Health Network spokesperson, said in an emailed statement that the health care system has a “history of providing our team members at every level with highly competitive wages and benefits and a workplace experience that is conducive to professional growth, fulfillment and the delivery of exceptional care to our patients.
“In the coming weeks, for example, AHN will be the first health care provider in Western Pennsylvania to offer an $18 per hour minimum wage, and our market rates for professionals in roles across the spectrum of our organization continue to be among the most competitive in the region,” he added.
Neither the Washington Health System, which owns Washington Hospital, nor Excela Health, which runs Frick Hospital, responded to a request for comment.
Although the workers are employed at four different hospitals owned by three different health care systems, they said they are prepared to stand together and support each other in the upcoming contract negotiations.
“The more people you have who stand beside you — not behind you, but beside you — makes a difference when you’re going up against huge corporations like this,” said Melissa Duran, a patient care tech at Washington Hospital. “They don’t like noise; they don’t like it when you fight back; they don’t like their feathers ruffled. But the more we are together and united, the stronger we’ll be.”
U.S. Rep. Summer Lee, D-Swissvale, and state Reps. Aerion Abney, D-Manchester, and Nick Pisciottano, D-West Mifflin, who all attended the rally, said they, too, would stand with the hospital workers as they entered negotiations.
“When I hear workers stand up here and tell you that they provide more service than what they are paid for, that they are fighting for $20 and hour, I don’t hear that they are fighting to become wealthy — I hear that they are fighting for justice, for what they deserve,” Abney said.
“There are real people with real lives,” he continued. “These are mothers and fathers, parents and guardians who have children that they have to support. These are sons and daughters themselves, children of an aging population with parents that they have to take care of. These are individuals who are fighting for the dignity and respect that they deserve.”
Andrew writes about education and more for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at agoldstein@unionprogress.com.