SEIU files complaint against UPMC

Nurses union seeking federal investigation of health care provider for anti-trust violations

The union representing registered nurses at UPMC Altoona has asked the Department of Justice to investigate UPMC for alleged anti-competitive conduct.

The union claims the actions have suppressed worker pay and benefits and held down staffing levels -- creating difficult working conditions and compromising patient care, even as the organization has limited workers' ability to seek jobs elsewhere.

"UPMC's lagging wages, chronic understaffing and other sub-par treatment of workers suggests ... that UPMC doesn't need to raise wages to preserve adequate working conditions or patient quality, because it has monopoly and monopsony (monopoly as a buyer of labor) power in the markets where it operates" -- including 89% of the Altoona market, states the SEIU Healthcare PA complaint.

UPMC spokesman Paul Wood wrote in an email, with a $78,000 average salary, "there are no other employers of size and scope in the regions UPMC serves that provide (such) good paying jobs at every level -- (or) an average wage of (that) magnitude." Moreover, UPMC is moving to $18 per hour for non-union workers by 2025, "the highest entry level of any health care provider in the state," Wood wrote.

The organization also offers "above-industry employee benefits," with health care premiums "often half of what other health systems in the area charge" (along with) first-dollar (so no out-of-pocket expenses) coverage via Health Reimbursement Arrangements for workers making up to $75,000 per year, Wood wrote.

UPMC also offers paid parental leave and backup/emergency day care, he wrote. In addition, the organization provides a career ladder with "support systems" and tuition assistance for people without college degrees who start in entry-level positions, Wood wrote.

Staffing at UPMC facilities is set to "best meet patients' needs," Wood wrote.

And "there is no policy that prohibits someone who leaves employment at a UPMC facility from being hired by another UPMC facility," Wood wrote.

According to the union complaint, 28 mergers with other health care organizations between 1996 and 2019 has led to the closure of four hospitals and the downsizing of three others, eliminating 353 beds and 1,367 full-time and 433 part-time jobs.

That has "harmed competition," according to the union.

"(W)ere UPMC subject to competitive market pressures, it would be forced to raise wages to attract more workers and provide higher staffing levels in order to avoid degrading patient quality and losing out to competitors who provide higher quality care," the complaint states. "As a result of these allegedly anticompetitive acts ... we have serious concerns that UPMC may have violated Section 2 of the Sherman Act and request the Department of Justice to investigate this conduct."

UPMC workers' wages fall 30 to 57 cents per hour on average for every 10% increase in the organization's market share, according to a study by Econ One Research, the complaint states.

Meanwhile, worker-patient ratios have decreased at UPMC hospitals, as they've increased at other Pennsylvania hospitals, so that as of 2020, UPMC worker-patient ratios are 19% lower than the average for other hospitals, the complaint said.

UPMC has been "locking in sub-competitive pay and working conditions" through "non-compete clauses (for doctors) and do-not-rehire blacklisting that prevents workers from leaving," the complaint states.

In the context of the discussion on blacklisting, SEIU Healthcare PA President Matt Yarnell cited the case of Dina Norris, a UPMC Altoona travel nurse whose contract was terminated with a "do not rehire" note attached to her agency file, after complaining to the media about allegedly being ordered to care for what she deemed was an unsafe number of patients.

The union urges the department "to bring the full weight of the law" down on UPMC, Yarnell said.

There's no necessary timeline for action, according to Marka Peterson, legal director and associate general counsel for the union's Strategic Organizing Center.

Filing a similar complaint in federal court would be expensive and potentially more time-consuming, according to Peterson.

The Justice Department declined to comment in an email reply to a request from the Mirror.

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.