Communication was key in West Penn nurses’ vote to give their bargaining committee authority to call a strike

Nurses at AHN’s West Penn Hospital displayed remarkable solidarity last week. We at PUP are impressed.

Those nurses, represented by SEIU Healthcare PA, voted 99.3% in favor of giving their bargaining committee the authority to issue a strike notice if upcoming negotiating sessions fail to result in an agreement.

Such solidarity does not emerge from thin air. Key was communication, said Nathan Malachowski, a surgical nurse at West Penn and a member of the union’s bargaining committee. He’s witnessed this communication firsthand in his department, with its staff of about 30 nurses.

“We’ve had updates throughout the campaign,” he said. “It’s been text bank after text bank after text bank. Phone calls, conversations. A lot of conversations.”

As unionized Post-Gazette workers learned a couple of years ago, voting in favor of a strike is at once empowering and frightening, and certainly the nurses experienced the same mix of emotions as they voted to step closer to a work stoppage. “But at the end of the day, it comes down to the fact that what we’re asking for will improve patient care,” Malachowski said. “When nurses are treated right, patients are treated right. We know that to be the case. We’re the ones at the bedside day after day.”

Staffing levels and pay are major issues for the hospital’s 650 nurses, who detailed their work challenges at a recent rally. They say the hospital needs to hire 100 additional nurses to adequately meet growing patient needs. Staffing shortages mean nurse have less time to spend with patients. Nurses who spoke at the rally detailed the way in which this can affect patient care.

In his 1½ years as a nurse at West Penn, Malachowski said he’s witnessed “drastic changes in working conditions — less staff, more work and no change in compensation.”

To bolster their case for a pay increase, speakers cited wage figures: Nurses in Allegheny County are paid 5.3% less than their counterparts across the state; the pay for nurses here is 17% less than the national average.

Will the nurses’ vote move the bargaining needle? We won’t have to wait long to find out: The two sides meet again on Tuesday.

If the bargaining committee does send a strike notice, a work stoppage will not happen immediately. The nurses must reconvene, review the current state of negotiations and collectively determine the details of the strike. Because of the nature of their work, nurses are legally required to give 10 days’ advance notice of a strike.

A bit more about Malachowski: Nursing is his second career — he spent several years working in the nonprofit world. His journey into nursing took seven years to complete. While taking classes at Community College of Allegheny County, he worked as a bartender.

“I wanted a career I could invest in for my whole life,” he said. “I felt I’d have more opportunity as a nurse. I also like that I get to talk to people and hear their stories” — something he could also do in his job in the nonprofit sector. “As a nurse, I get to do the same thing; I get to talk to people and advocate for them.”