Kittanning nursing home workers plan 3-day strike

Employees at a Kittanning nursing home say they will hit the picket line later this month if a new contract can’t be reached.

More than 60 workers represented by the Service Employees International Union at Armstrong Rehabilitation & Nursing Center unanimously approved sending an unfair labor practices strike notice to the company this week.

The 10-day notice informs the nursing home that workers will walk off the job July 19 for three days if progress on a new contract isn’t satisfactory to the union, which claims the nursing home’s owner is bargaining in bad faith.

The advance notice is required so the nursing home can arrange for patient care while workers are striking.

“This is the absolute last resort. We need a contract that puts the care and safety of our residents first, but the company has not been bargaining in good faith,” said Amber Graham, a certified nursing assistant at the center for more than a year.

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

Nursing home officials and the facility’s owner, Elie Pollak, did not return calls for comment.

Union officials say conditions at the facility have been declining for four years while contract negotiations are delayed.

Graham said low staffing is resulting in poor patient care.

“It really affects resident care. Meal times are hard — you have patients ringing, and you’re trying to feed other patients and other patients continue to ring.” Graham said. “You also have to use two people to take care of one patient; now there is no aide on the floor, there are call lights going off. It’s just a horrible feeling knowing someone is sitting there waiting for you.”

Graham says they don’t have time to give patients proper baths due to limited hot water.

“We have to fill up a pitcher with hot water and fill up a basin to bathe the residents in,” Graham said. “Sometimes they’re not getting showers 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 director of nursing and maintenance. Sometimes they aren’t in the building yet so we have to sit there and wait for them to call, and they have to reset the switch that takes an hour and a half to get the water flowing.”

Workers are demanding Pollak to invest the more than $2.1 million in annual state funding the facility receives to recruit and retain caregivers. Currently, starting wages for some workers at Armstrong is $12.50 per hour. The health insurance for workers requires them to travel 45 minutes to Butler County for covered emergency services and mammograms.

The workers also are concerned about the extensive list of citations and more than $185,000 in fines levied against the nursing home since it was purchased by Pollak four years ago.

The nursing home has been cited for infractions ranging from failing to protect residents from the spread of infections to failure to provide pharmaceutical services to meet the needs of each resident and employ or obtain 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.