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WHEREAS, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, our City's largest employer, dominant health care provider, and greatest recipient of taxpayer-supported charitable tax exemptions, has a responsibility to carry out its core mission; and
WHEREAS, a critical component of that mission is to work with its employees and City residents to create family-sustaining, living wage jobs; and
WHEREAS, respect for our country's laws and to our community's ethical standards is a reasonable expectation of a highly-subsidized charitable institution; and
WHEREAS, a charitable healthcare institution should devote its resources to providing care, not allocating millions of scarce healthcare dollars and precious staff time to interfering with workers' rights to choose whether to form a union; and
WHEREAS, on September 30, 2013, Region 6 of the National Labor Relations Board issued a second historic complaint against UPMC, alleging that UPMC engaged in at least 47 separate instances of intimidation, harassment, discrimination, surveillance, and illegal firing of workers, in violation of federal law; and
WHEREAS, the serious charges include UPMC threatening to arrest workers for talking about the union in the cafeteria and retaliating against workers who brought their testimony to the National Labor Relations Board, the federal agency charged with protecting workers' rights; and
WHEREAS, the complaint names 34 UPMC managers and supervisors, as having been involved in these alleged violations; and
WHEREAS, these new allegations come shortly after UPMC entered into a settlement of an earlier NLRB complaint alleging 80 labor law violations and raise grave concerns about UPMC's commitment to stopping the harassing, intimidating, and discriminating against workers looking to raise themselves out of poverty.
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NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Council of the City of Pittsburgh supports the UPMC workers for their brave and principled stand on behalf...
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