Allegheny County creates new way for workers to report threats to union rights

Allegheny County launched a web page Thursday for workers to report violations or threats to their union organizing rights.

The move comes at a time of local labor flare-ups and gridlock at the National Labor Relations Board.

This new, confidential Right to Organize Incident Report Form asks for information about the filer and a summary of their grievance.

A disclaimer notes the reports are “for informational purposes only” so the office of County Executive Sara Innamorato can “understand the experiences of workers expressing their right to organize throughout Allegheny County.”

Formal complaints should be directed to the NLRB or a union organizer, according to the county. Workers already in a union are encouraged to use the grievance procedures built into their contracts.

“This form is more tailored for groups who have yet to organize,” said Abigail Gardner, a county spokesperson.

Despite lacking teeth, the form reflects the Innamorato administration’s pro-union leanings and hints at how lower levels of government may take on labor activism as long as Republicans, who tend to side with management, control the federal government.

Workers already had been sending in complaints, according to Innamorato, including nurses at UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital who submitted “serious allegations” of anti-union activity.

The Services Employees International Union and UPMC are embroiled in a dispute over the size of the bargaining unit for certain nurses and midwives at the hospital in Pittsburgh’s Oakland neighborhood — and whether a union election can be held at all.

UPMC and its attorneys have argued during NLRB hearings in Pittsburgh that paralysis at the national board puts all union elections on pause.

President Donald Trump terminated a board member in January, leaving only two of five seats filled and putting the board below the threshold at which it can meet.

The SEIU has rejected that claim, pointing to dozens of other union elections that have proceeded since January.

A decision on the Magee case is pending from the Pittsburgh NLRB office.

Like many at UPMC, the Magee employees are not yet unionized. Nurses and midwives there are arguing a union is necessary to secure proper staffing ratios, fair pay and more affordable health insurance.

“The fact that UPMC is trying so hard to stop us tells us that they are well aware of what we are capable of achieving,” said Jean Stone, a registered nurse at Magee. “We’re going to utilize Executive Innamorato’s reporting form through this process to document violations so we can hold UPMC accountable for a free and fair union election.”

UPMC did not immediately return a request for comment.

Innamorato also claimed non-union construction workers are being pitted against union workers on high-end development projects in Pittsburgh’s Strip District. The county was unable to provide further details.

The county, itself, has more than 4,000 union employees.