ACMH nurses on strike
After months of stalled negotiations on a labor agreement contract, 220 nurses at ACMH Hospital in Kittanning walked out Sunday morning with picket signs for the first of their planned five-day strike.
Cassie Wood, president of the ACMH Nurses United union, said employees have been in negotiations for a contract since July, when the last one expired. Additionally, Wood said the hospital has lost more than 40 nurses in the past year, and the staffing shortages have put a strain on the remaining nurses.
The union authorized the strike Jan. 26 in a vote of 80% approval, and Wood said the nurses are holding out for a contract that prioritizes nurse retention and patient care.
“Each department has less than half the staff we had two years ago,” Wood said Monday. “It costs the hospital nothing to put job safety in the contract, but they have not done that. There is a lot that is really uneasy and not valued and not heard.”
A statement from ACMH said the negotiations between the hospital and nurse union stalled, and the union did not propose any changes to the staffing guidelines during the negotiations.
Wood said the hospital has come to rely more on staffing agencies to fill positions left open by nurses leaving the company. The statement released by ACMH said the staffing agencies are filling in during the strike as well.
“Patient care is not being compromised at ACMH in any way,” the statement said. “Nationally, and similar to most Pennsylvania hospitals, ACMH has nursing vacancies and to ensure that our patients are given quality care we have done what many hospitals are being forced to do, and that is to utilize nursing staffing agencies.”
The statement from the hospital also said ACMH presented the most lucrative and aggressive wage proposal in its history, in recognition of the importance of recruiting. There are also increases to a number of premium pays in the compensation proposal, according to the statement.
“The increase in wages in the first year of the contract range from 7% to 12%, depending on years of experience, followed by a 4.5% increase in the second and third years,” the statement said.
Wood said the nurses want a pay increase, but also a benefits package that attracts nurses to want to work at the hospital and retains those already there. She said over time, the hospital replaced the employee pension policy and the nurses want better retirement packages. She also said the administration attempted to rewrite the sick time policy.
Staffing issues and employee burnout remain the main concerns of the union.
“A nurse said she had more than 18 patients to herself,” Wood said. “Each patient that you take above the guidelines opens the door to more mistakes. We can't do that.”
While the past two years have been difficult on employees because of decreasing staff, many employees have continued doing their best to pick up the slack, she said. Wood also said the union has been seeing support from the community as well.
Teena Rupp, a retired nurse who returned to work at ACMH at COVID-19 testing and vaccine clinics during the pandemic, joined the union on the picket lines Monday. She said if the hospital comes to rely too much on staffing agencies, patient care will suffer.
“The bottom line is if you don't have core nurses within your hospitals you are going to lose quality of care,” Rupp said. “We are getting so low in core staffing, and that is kind of the crisis for this hospital, and many hospitals.”
The strike is set to continue until 4:59 a.m. Friday, but Wood said the union could take further action if it still does not enter negotiations with hospital administration.
Wood also said that although the nurses are striking against the hospital, many still want to see it thrive.
“We have people who live close by, and some who live in Dayton or Indiana or Butler. There are benefits to coming here instead of to a bigger city hospital,” said Wood, who commutes to ACMH from Butler. “It just speaks to the people who are here that they want to be here. They want to be respected and they don't feel that right now.”
