Local 8041 Signs New Contracts

Two units of Local 8041 in Southern Pennsylvania last month ratified new contracts, increasing wages, preserving benefits, and making gains on non-economic issues.

Negotiations with Mon Valley Hospital, where the union represents some 520 health care workers, and Southwestern Pennsylvania Health Systems (SPHS), where there are another 19 USW members, began in May. The SPHS unit ratified their contract June 20, and workers at Mon Valley ratified ten days later.

Local 8041 President Rich McGinn attributes the smooth negotiations and favorable outcome to hard work and advanced planning on the part of the negotiating committees. “We met quite a few times on our own preparing,” said McGinn. “We went over everything in the contract that’s caused us grief in the past three years, anywhere there was a grey area, and we wrote down what we wanted.”

Members at Mon Valley Hospital fill some 115 separate job descriptions, from environmental aids, CNAs, and unit clerks, to X-ray, CT, ultrasound, and respiratory technicians, to those working in dietary, maintenance and laundry departments and others.

USW members with SPHS also work in a variety of positions, including medical assistants and other support staff and workers staffing the Westmorland County WIC program.

McGinn said that while he was obviously happy about the economic gains the local made, especially at Mon Valley, “I was pleased with some of the language we got into the contract on the non-economic side too.”

Workers at Mon Valley Hospital saw improvements to the attendance policy and better language covering part-time workers, holding the number of part-timers to the current level and providing an avenue for part time workers to eventually bid on jobs. The contract also provides more flexibility in retirement benefits, allowing pre-Medicare retirees to purchase insurance through the company plan. 

“We made important gains, and we hardly had any concessions,” said McGinn. “In this day and age if you can raise wages and hold your health care increases to a minimum you’re doing pretty good.”

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