Strike at Kittanning nursing home averted after workers agreed to a new collective agreement

Employees at a nursing home in Kittanning agreed to a new collective bargaining agreement on Friday, averting a strike planned for the same day, their union said.

SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania said Armstrong Rehabilitation and Nursing Center workers voted to ratify a new three-year contract that includes wage and health insurance improvements.

The ratification averts the three-day strike that was supposed to begin on Friday. The more than 60 workers had announced a ten-day strike period on July 9.

According to the union, the agreement improves wages, paid vacation and health insurance.

“Our residents should come first and we were willing to do whatever it took to negotiate in good faith and enter into a contract that would ensure that,” Michelle Merryman, a housekeeper at Armstrong Rehabilitation and Nursing Center for 25 years, said in a statement.

“Most importantly, this contract will improve our health insurance coverage so we have access to local physicians, emergency services and urgent care at a lower cost,” she said. “All of this will help us retain and hire the best caregivers that residents deserve.”

A representative of the nursing home was not immediately available for comment.