Nursing home workers across Pennsylvania go on strike starting today
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - With the Labor Day Weekend upon us, about 700 workers across 14 Pennsylvania nursing homes are going on strike today.
The Service Employees International Union made the announcement just after midnight, saying they will begin "unfair labor practice strikes" after the companies, Comprehensive Healthcare and Priority Healthcare "failed to provide significant enough investments into staffing and care."
"Our goal has always been - and continues to be - to get a fair contract that invests in this entire workforce and will meaningfully address the staffing crisis," said Matthew Yarnell, President of SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania. "But the offers on the table still fall short. Comprehensive and Priority are failing to create the kind of wage scales we've been able to achieve with other providers. These workers have been underpaid and disrespected for far too long, and it's both them and the residents they care for who suffer."
As of 7 a.m. this morning, the workers have taken to the picket line.
Negotiations began on Thursday morning but those negotiations broke off in the early morning hours of Friday and no additional negotiation sessions have been announced.
Those homes affect by the strike include:
- The Grove at New Castle
- The Grove at Irwin
- The Grove at Harmony
- The Grove at Washington
- Fairlane Gardens
- Rose City Health and Rehab
- The Gardens at East Mountain The Gardens at Easton
- The Gardens at Wyoming Valley
- The Gardens at Blue Ridge
- The Gardens at West Shore
- The Meadows at York Terrace
- The Meadows at Stroud
- Shenandoah Heights
The strikes will call for accountability for the $600 million in public funding for nursing homes included in the state budget.
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