Late contract negotiations seem to have paid off at Allegheny Valley and West Penn hospitals.
Statements from SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania say new contracts either are approved or pending at both hospitals after talks over the past few days.
A new contract approved Monday by employees of Allegheny Valley Hospital in Harrison includes raises that mean all health care workers will be paid at least $20 per hour in three years.
A statement from SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania, the union representing more than 450 nurses and employees at the hospital, said approval of the contract averted a vote to set a strike date.
The tentative settlement at Allegheny Valley Hospital came Friday, a day after union workers held a rally outside the hospital. They didn’t specify what they were looking for in a new contract but said they were looking for the same deal AHN’s flagship hospital, Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh, reached with its nurses last November when they signed a three-year pact.
That contract included an average raise of 23% over the life of the contract and improvements in working conditions.
Nearly 700 union members at West Penn Hospital last week authorized a strike while rejecting AHN’s contract proposals. The nearly 450 union members at Allegheny Valley Hospital, 175 of them nurses, did the same.
The new contract at Allegheny Valley includes a significant investment in frontline staff, protects benefits and strengthens staffing and safety measures, the union said.
Union members will see an average 16% increase in pay and compensation, with some members receiving as much as 36%. By the third year of the contract, a majority of currently employed nurses will earn at least $40 per hour, and all currently employed health care workers will earn $20 per hour.
Union nurses and health care workers have a 100% coinsurance option for their health insurance and separate vacation, sick and personal time.
The new agreement also adds nursing assistant positions to some inpatient units and includes safety measures such as a weapons detection system at the main entrance and increased security presence at the hospital.
Union members at West Penn Hospital say they reached a tentative contract agreement late Monday. Union members were scheduled to vote on the new pact Wednesday.
