SEIU Healthcare PA knew what it was paying for when it made this investment—a strong bargaining chip to force the city’s largest employer, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), to unionize its employees. SEIU Healthcare has had its sights set on UPMC employees for more than a decade but has so far been unable to close the deal with its prospective members.
Thanks to the union’s generous investment in Gainey’s campaign, however, its luck at UPMC may change, bringing in thousands of new dues-payers to line the union leaders’ coffers.
What does all this mean for Pennsylvanians who rely on UPMC for their medical services?
After talks between UPMC and Gainey’s office broke down when the hospital rebuffed SEIU’s unionization efforts, the mayor has declined to attend any UPMC construction or opening events—a not-so-subtle display of hostility against one of the largest employers in the commonwealth.
“That’s a big number we’re leaving on the table right now,” Pittsburgh City Controller Michael Lamb said. “And we can’t just walk away from that. On behalf of the citizens and taxpayers of this town, we’ve got to engage, and we’ve got to have conversations and continued conversations with our largest employer.”
According to Frank, “The union’s job is the union’s job, and the mayor’s job is the mayor’s job.”
But aren’t they really one and the same when the mayor was bankrolled by the union and seems to be doing its bidding, even at the expense of his own constituents?
Could Gainey be trying to help make up for public-sector union losses by forcing SEIU unionization on a large regional hospital that has rejected it for years?
While it’s not clear who will prevail between the mayor/SEIU Healthcare PA and UPMC, the clear winners are not the taxpayers of Pittsburgh, who likely just want a well-run health care center without more bureaucracy or union mandates getting in the way of their medical needs.
Unions have been targeting other big-city elections in order to exert power over their cities’ public works institutions and push unionization among city employees.
In early April, Chicago elected a proud Chicago Teachers’ Union (CTU) operative—Brandon Johnson—as its new mayor. CTU pumped in a historic $2.3 million to get Johnson elected, and he’s already denounced school choice and charter schools while working to end a program that provides education-choice scholarships to low-income students.
On election night, the newly elected mayor was introduced at his own victory party by CTU President Stacy Davis Gates. American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten wrote on Twitter, as she is wont to do, that “the impossible became possible” in praise of their newly installed agent.
It appears that each mayoral prospect in Philly’s Democratic primary promises a victory for unions. If Pittsburgh is any indication, taxpayers—and those desperately in need of vital services—won’t be the winners.