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WHEREAS, this City Council consistently promotes economic well-being for all by steadfastly supporting the efforts of Pittsburgh workers to obtain a living wage; and
WHEREAS, the struggles of working people to win just compensation, equal treatment, and the right to form a union without interference or fear of retaliation have long been essential to the people of Pittsburgh; and
WHEREAS, thousands of UPMC workers work full time yet do not earn enough to support their families, with a typical UPMC service worker earning from 8% to 30% below a basic family wage and many make 31% to 59% below this standard, so that many are forced to rely on food banks; and
WHEREAS, UPMC has the third highest number of full-time workers on Medicaid for their healthcare, after Walmart and McDonald's; and
WHEREAS, UPMC service workers are the largest group of low wage workers at the largest employer in our city, and
WHEREAS, workers of color and women workers are disproportionately represented and especially concentrated in UPMC's lowest paying jobs, while our city has the third highest rate of poverty among working-age African-Americans of major US metropolitan areas, and average wages for African-Americans in Pittsburgh are second and seventh lowest in the country for men and women, respectively; and
WHEREAS, UPMC is a $11 billion global health enterprise with over $4 billion in reserves and hundreds of millions in profits each year, paying 27 executives and key employees more than $1 million each in 2014, with their combined pay totaling roughly half of the value of charity care provided by the system; and
WHEREAS, UPMC workers' attempts to redress these inequities by calling for a union continue to be met with what a National Labor Relations Board judge has called "such egregious and widespread misconduct so as to demonstrate a general disregard for employees' statutory rights," including illegal surveillance, intimidation, discrimination and firing; ...
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