UPMC Magee Women’s Hospital nurses call for historic union election

PITTSBURGH — Nurses at UPMC Magee Women’s Hospital are working to unionize.

An event was held Thursday afternoon as nurses called for a historic union election.

A group of nurses were gathered outside the hospital with and County Executive Sara Innamorato for the event. More than 1,000 nurses support the union in total, the SEIU said.

Nurses say they want to form a union to bring a strong focus on patient care and nursing standards to UPMC’s biggest birthing hospital. They said they deliver around 10,000 babies a year and half of all births in Allegheny County.

They argued that “the priorities of executives comes at the cost of the needs of care providers.” As a result, they want a seat at the table.

The union would cover registered nurses and advanced practice professionals, including midwives and nurse practitioners.

“I love Magee and have a passion for women’s health,” said Jean Stone, who has been a registered nurse at the hospital for over a decade and works as an obstetrics resource nurse, meaning she floats throughout multiple units. “Because we work at the foremost hospital for high-risk women and babies in our region, we experience a lot of beauty and joy but also a lot of loss. In order to support our patients through the toughest of times, it’s vital to have nationally-recognized staffing standards. Instead, too often we fall short of those standards, and we’re churning through staff and throwing away many experienced nurses. When I first started, I really dove head first into every opportunity to engage in Magee’s internal processes to address nurses’ concerns, including sitting on multiple committees. But it’s become crystal clear that UPMC executives will never give us a true seat at the decision-making table until we can negotiate a contract with them as a union. We need executives to invest in bedside nursing, not just the relentless drive to expand their insurance business. This matters to everyone in our community because forming our union is all about advocating to make sure Magee can attract, support and keep the very best staff to provide the very best care.”

The nurses said they are experiencing a shortage of staff, making it harder for them to do their jobs. They said there are nearly 20,000 empty positions in Pennsylvania and they do not believe anything is being done to solve this problem.

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The call to start a union came in response to seeing successful contracts come out of Allegheny General Hospital, West Penn, UPMC Western Psychiatric and other hospital across the state.

The nurses said they believe UPMC executives are escalating anti-union campaigns.

UPMC responded to these claims with a statement they said corrects the SEIU claims. That statement shared by a UPMC spokesperson said:

CORRECTING THE SEIU NARRATIVE

TURNOVER:

Current nursing turnover is 4.8% at UPMC Magee, compared to 16.7% at UPMC hospitals where nurses are unionized. The 4.8% turnover rate at UPMC Magee also compares to a national turnover average of 16%.

Turnover of newly hired nurses at UPMC Magee is 0% in 2025, compared to 50% at UPMC hospitals where nurses are unionized.

VACANCY:

The nursing vacancy rate at UPMC Magee is 1%, compared to 12.5% at UPMC hospitals where nurses are unionized.

NURSING PAY:

Entry-level UPMC hospital nurses can earn over $50.00 per hour in four years with progressive increases through merit, salary structure movement, and career ladder advancement.

UPMC’s benefits are much richer than flat nursing contracts and provide more than $13 an hour on top of base salary, far more than others in healthcare. With freedom from mandatory dues and access to superior retirement, medical, and life and disability benefits, UPMC provides employees with a secure and empowering financial journey. Nurses at UPMC Magee can earn up to 20% more than their counterparts at local, unionized competitors.

SALARY “CAPS”:

There is no salary cap at UPMC Magee. For employees at the max of their salary band, UPMC Magee provides a lump sum merit payment to reward strong performance. In addition, salary bands are reviewed and adjusted regularly in an effort to help mitigate this concern.

STAFFING RATIOS:

To provide high quality, safe patient care, and ensure safe patient assignments UPMC Magee uses flexible scheduling for each shift, based on patient acuity, to make real-time, evidence-based decisions on staffing.

The UPMC Magee resource pool has 31 nurses who are deployed to areas in need of additional staff for patient care.

COMMUNICATION & COLLABORATION:

Multiple opportunities are available for UPMC Magee nurses to share their voices, get involved and suggest solutions to improve the workplace, including 1:1 leadership meetings, engagement surveys, town halls, staff meetings, leader rounds, practice councils, and many more.

INSURANCE LEADERSHIP:

UPMC Insurance Division and UPMC Magee are completely separate divisions within UPMC.

Insurance Division leadership plays no role and makes no decisions regarding UPMC Magee employees.

UPMC Magee Women’s Hospital nurses filed their request with the National Labor Relations Board on May 27.

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