Company offers worse contract after SEIU shuts down strike…
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Company offers worse contract after SEIU shuts down strike of 950 Pennsylvania healthcare workers
Management at Mount Nittany Medical Center in State College, Pennsylvania, has returned with a worse offer after a five-day strike by 950 workers. Service Employees International Union Healthcare PA (SEIU) ended the walkout on August 1 without a tentative agreement.
The strike began July 27 and involved registered nurses, imaging technicians, certified nursing assistants, respiratory therapists, environmental services staff and cafeteria workers. It was the first strike at Mount Nittany in 22 years. Workers voted nearly 99 percent in favor of striking on July 2, with wages and safety measures to protect staff from physical violence at the center of the dispute.
The SEIU was seeking 14.25 percent across-the-board wage increases over three years. Mount Nittany had proposed increases totaling 7 percent over three years—3 percent in the first year and 2 percent in each of the following two years. In its final pre-strike proposal, management instead offered a one-year contract extension with a 3 percent across-the-board raise, a $1,000 ratification bonus and pay upgrades for 18 job classifications. The union rejected the proposal. But even the SEIU’s demand would not have made up for years of declining real wages.
At the first bargaining session after the strike, management cut its offer to annual wage increases of just 2 percent for each of the next three years, below the current inflation rate. It also withdrew previously offered pay upgrades for nearly 20 job categories and removed additional wage adjustments for nurses.
Management at Mount Nittany Medical Center in State College, Pennsylvania, has returned with a worse offer after a five-day strike by 950 workers. Service Employees International Union Healthcare PA (SEIU) ended the walkout on August 1 without a tentative agreement.
The strike began July 27 and involved registered nurses, imaging technicians, certified nursing assistants, respiratory therapists, environmental services staff and cafeteria workers. It was the first strike at Mount Nittany in 22 years. Workers voted nearly 99 percent in favor of striking on July 2, with wages and safety measures to protect staff from physical violence at the center of the dispute.
The SEIU was seeking 14.25 percent across-the-board wage increases over three years. Mount Nittany had proposed increases totaling 7 percent over three years—3 percent in the first year and 2 percent in each of the following two years. In its final pre-strike proposal, management instead offered a one-year contract extension with a 3 percent across-the-board raise, a $1,000 ratification bonus and pay upgrades for 18 job classifications. The union rejected the proposal. But even the SEIU’s demand would not have made up for years of declining real wages.
At the first bargaining session after the strike, management cut its offer to annual wage increases of just 2 percent for each of the next three years, below the current inflation rate. It also withdrew previously offered pay upgrades for nearly 20 job categories and removed additional wage adjustments for nurses.
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