Mount Nittany Medical Center Staff Head Back to Work After 5-Day Strike

Nearly 1,000 Mount Nittany Medical Center employees began returning to work on Saturday morning following the conclusion of a five-day strike.

Workers represented by SEIU Healthcare PA took to the picket lines on Monday morning after months of negotiations failed to produce a new contract and the previous three-year agreement expired on June 30. The union says it is seeking wage increases that keep pace with inflation and the rising cost of living in Centre County, as well as new security workplace security measures.

“I hope Mount Nittany sees that we, the community, and local leaders are seriously committed to ensuring the highest standards of quality patient care at the hospital,” Susan Knee, a radiation therapist in the radiation oncology department at the hospital, said in a statement on Friday night. “We didn’t want to have to strike. Our primary goal since April has been a contract agreement that recruits and retains a strong workforce as well as addresses serious workplace safety and violence concerns.”

As they head back to work without a new contract, union members and hospital administrators will return to the bargaining table to resume negotiations on Monday.

Knee said the union “asked for all possible availability to bargain next week,” but was only offered one day.

“They said we’ll see how that one day goes first,” Knee said. “We want to set this hospital up for long-term success. Mount Nittany has not yet shown us that their goal is the same as ours, which is keeping the heart of this hospital beating for patients first.”

A Mount Nittany spokesperson has said that hospital administrators are “committed to bargaining in good faith.”

“Our goal remains to reach a fair agreement that recognizes our employees’ contributions while ensuring Mount Nittany Health remains a strong, independent health system able to continue serving our community,” the spokesperson said earlier in July.

In their last negotiations before the strike, Mount Nittany offered a one-year contract extension with 3% across-the-board wage increase for all of the hospital’s approximately 950 unionized workers, as well as a $1,000 ratification bonus for every employee in the bargaining unit, wage scale upgrades for 18 job classifications and new investments in workplace safety.

Management’s offer prior to that was a three-year deal with 3% raises in the first year followed by 2% in the following two years, along with an additional 2% for registered nurses pay grade increases for 19 positions, bumps for weekend and preceptor differentials and a series of new workplace safety measures.

Picketing within sight of Mount Nittany’s new $350 million patient tower, workers said the offers were unacceptable at a time when the medical center has a healthy financial position and is making substantial investments in multiple new facilities.

“It’s impossible for us to give up on the highest standards of care for our patients and our community,” registered nurse Jess Mulroy said at a rally on Tuesday, where workers were joined by labor leaders and elected officials from around the county. “It’s the heart of our community, staff who are committed to upholding the highest standard of care because we care so much about our community…We need our leadership to come back and invest in us.”

Employing contingency staffing during the strike, Mount Nittany Medical Center, the emergency department, physician offices and outpatient practices remained open and patients were advised to keep scheduled appointments unless contacted otherwise. Some imaging and lab locations had modified hours or were closed, but now return to normal operation.

Access to the medical center was restricted to patients, families, approved visitors and employees on duty.

Bargaining unit employees were not paid and had badge access to the hospital revoked during the strike. A point of contention during the week was the cancelation of health insurance benefits, which were automatically reinstated at the conclusion of the strike.

A rally on Wednesday along the picket line, which was joined by Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna of California, focused on the suspension of benefits. The union says its members already paid premiums for the month and those have not been reimbursed.

“You guys have already paid for that health care,” Khanna said. “That’s why I thought it was so outrageous that I had to stop here.” 

The Mount Nittany spokesperson provided copies of two emails sent to affected employees ahead of the strike communicating changes to benefits that would occur during a work stoppage. Bargaining unit employees were informed their active benefits would end effective July 27 at 11:59 p.m. and would automatically resume once the strike concludes on Aug. 1. 

Regarding union claims that employees had already paid their health care premiums, the spokesperson said employees pay standard biweekly health care premiums that are not prorated, according to the hospital’s employee benefits guide.

The bargaining unit represents employees in every department at the hospital and includes nurses, emergency department technicians, lab technicians, skilled maintenance, phlebotomists, certified nurse aides, environmental services aides, radiology technologists, nutrition workers and more.

Union members said they are pushing for across-the-board wage increases because each worker is essential to providing quality care.

“Instead of investing in all workers who make care possible, Mount Nittany executives are offering raises which do not keep up with inflation and have spent significant time and resources stripping away healthcare from healthcare workers, intimidating probationary employees from engaging in union activity, and paying expensive out-of-state replacement workers,” SEIU Healthcare PA wrote in a statement on Friday. “Kathleen Rhine has yet to attend a single negotiations session despite her decision-making position as the president and CEO of Mount Nittany Health.”