‘The staffing is horrendous’: Nurses at Allegheny Valley authorize strike

As the sun set Thursday night, dozens of unionized hospital workers gathered at a parking lot on Carlisle Street in Natrona Heights, held aloft small battery-powered candles and stood silently as they faced the looming tan brick structure that bore the name of their employer, Allegheny Valley Hospital.

This was an act of solidarity. The workers already had voted to authorize a strike — a warning to hospital administrators that they were serious about their demands: Allegheny Health Network needs to increase pay and staffing levels at the hospital. Negotiations resume Friday.

“We’re very hopeful that we can find a resolution through this,” said Cathy Olschefsky, a member of the hospital’s dietary staff. “It’s needed for patient care.”

Workers leave because the pay is too low and the workload too high. “The staffing is horrendous,” Olschefsky said. At Allegheny Valley, nurses and service workers negotiate their contracts together. All departments face similar issues, Olschefsky said.

“It affects every department in the hospital. We’re all cogs in the wheel. Nurses, dietary staff, housekeeping, workers in the lab. There’s no incentive to work in health care. There’s no benefit to being here when you can go down the street to Sheetz and make $20 an hour to start.”

This is the second AHN hospital to face a potential strike by its unionized workers. Two weeks ago, nurses at West Penn Hospital in Bloomfield authorized a strike. Walkouts at the two hospitals could affect more than a thousand staff members.

Here are some highlights from the Thursday night rally.

“Our patients are not insurance payments, they’re not statistics, and they’re not damn survey scores. They are people that deserve our time and attention and care.”

“We have the power to change health care in this region. We have the power because without us there’s not a dollar made by any of these health care systems. We have power because we are united across hospitals in standing up for our patients.”

“Right now health care workers in this community rely on the local food banks to feed their families. Think about that. Think about how sad that is.”

— Cathy Olschefsky, a member of the hospital’s dietary staff

“I got into health care because I care about people, and I want to care for people. But I feel there’s an expectation that because we all care about our patients, we will accept conditions for ourselves and our patients that other professionals would simply refuse. Because we care, we know there comes a time when we stand up for our patients.”

“I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of hospital workers struggling to afford groceries, rent and gas. I’m tired of being unable to put money away for retirement, for education and for our children’s futures. I’m tired of seeing people leaving health care because they’re not able to give the kind of care patients deserve. I’m tired of hospital executives so removed from patient care that they don’t see that the system collapses without us, the full-time staff.”

— Maggie Brown, unionized nurse at West Penn Hospital

“We know you’ve authorized a strike. We hope it doesn’t get to that. We hope that all of you showing up today shows hospital executives that [health care workers] have the community on their side. We’ll be with you as you fight for a fair contract.”

— State Sen. Lindsey Williams, D-West View

“Pennsylvania has one of the most severe shortages of nurses. We are 20,000 people short. Think about that. That puts so much stress on these individuals behind us but also risks lives of those individuals that go into the hospital. That is unacceptable for everyone in our region.”

— Allegheny County Controller Corey O’Connor