LETTER: UPMC should invest in Washington
It’s time for UPMC execs to fulfill their promises and invest in Washington
I’ve been an engineer at Washington Hospital for 25 years and people call me “Junior” because my father also worked there for 40 years. I was born at Washington Hospital, as were my wife and four kids. So I’m personally invested in making sure Washington provides quality care and good jobs for our community.
When I first started at Washington Hospital, people used to line up at the door to work there. Now there’s just a revolving door. In my department, we’ve had an open position for almost three years that we simply can’t fill.
Why does Washington have so many problems with recruitment and retention? Because the pay is too low and has not kept up with the almost 20% increase in cost of living over the past four years.
When UPMC executives took over Washington last year, they swore up and down that they would “invest in its employees and improve benefits offerings” and “invest a minimum of $300 million” in our hospital. Instead, in our latest union contract negotiations covering 300 workers, UPMC has proposed measly raises, higher costs for one of their health insurance plans, and other damaging cuts.
While Washington workers have been struggling, the top 10 non-clinical UPMC executives had total compensation of $51 million, according to their tax returns from fiscal year 2023.
As hospital workers, we never want to strike. But UPMC has backed us into a corner and left us little choice. The American Dream is already out of reach for us and we refuse to keep falling backwards. It’s been eight months since UPMC execs took over and it’s past time they started fulfilling their promises by investing in Washington Hospital’s workers, families and patients.
Chuck Steadman
Washington