Kittanning nursing home employees plan three-day strike

Employees at a nursing home in Kittanning say they will picket later this month if a new collective bargaining agreement is not reached.

More than 60 Armstrong Rehab and Nursing Center workers represented by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) this week unanimously agreed to serve a strike notice on the company over unfair labor practices.

The ten-day notice informs the nursing home that if the union is not satisfied with progress on a new contract, workers will walk out of work for three days on July 19. They believe the nursing home owner is negotiating in bad faith.

Advance notice is necessary so that the nursing home can organize patient care during the strike.

“This is the very last resort. We need a contract that puts the care and safety of our residents first, but the company has not negotiated in good faith,” said Amber Graham, who has worked as a licensed nursing assistant at Armstrong Rehab and Nursing Center for over a year.

“The staffing situation is desperate. We need to know how much they spend on staff to know how much should be invested in full-time nurses, supplies, functioning equipment and good care.”

Neither the nursing home officials nor the facility’s owner, Elie Pollak, responded to requests for comment.

Union officials say conditions at the factory have deteriorated over the past four years, while contract negotiations have been delayed.

Graham said staff shortages were leading to poor patient care.

“It really impacts on the care of residents. Mealtimes are difficult, you have patients ringing and you’re trying to feed other patients and other patients keep ringing,” Graham said. “You also have to use two people to look after one patient, now there’s no help on the ward, the call lights go off, it’s just a horrible feeling knowing that someone is sitting there waiting for you.”

Graham says that due to limited hot water supplies, they don’t have time to properly bathe patients.

“We have to fill a jug with hot water and fill a basin for residents to bathe in,” Graham said. “Sometimes they can’t shower because the water is too cold. “Every other day I go in and start bathing and showering people and there’s no hot water. I have to call my nursing and maintenance director. Sometimes they’re not in the building yet, so we have to sit there and wait for their call and they have to reset the switch, which takes an hour and a half to get the water running.”

Employees are demanding that Pollak invest the more than $2.1 million the facility receives annually in state aid into recruiting and retaining nurses. Currently, starting pay for some employees at Armstrong is $12.50 an hour. Employees’ health insurance requires them to drive 45 minutes to Butler County for emergency services and mammograms.

Staff are also concerned about the long list of citations and more than $185,000 in fines that have been levied against the nursing home since Pollak bought it four years ago.

The nursing home was accused of violations ranging from failing to protect residents from the spread of infection to failing to meet each resident’s needs through pharmaceutical services and to employ or utilize the services of a licensed pharmacist.

Pollak’s recent license application to purchase five nursing homes in western Pennsylvania was rejected by the state Department of Health.