Monthly Archives: April 2014

UPMC is our city’s largest charity, landowner and employer. It employs 43,000 people here in Pittsburgh—more than twice the number of people working at the next largest employer.
What would happen if the region’s largest employer stopped paying thousands of workers poverty wages and instead paid no one less than $15.00 an hour?
Take a look. This new graphic shows why UPMC raising wages is key to building a strong and healthy Pittsburgh.

Share this powerful graphic on Facebook

Take Action: Sign our letter to the UPMC Board of Directors and tell them it’s time for change at UPMC

We need UPMC to improve jobs and raise wages for its workers. The future of our city depends on it.
Can you sign onto our open letter to the UPMC Board of Directors – and stand up for good jobs for a strong and healthy Pittsburgh?
Together we can Make it Our UPMC.

Surrounded by 100 faith leaders, community members, elected officials and labor leaders, UPMC workers broke their week-long fast for good jobs at UPMC Friday morning. Supported by their co-workers, seven-day fasters Mary Hughes and Chaney Lewis led a procession around UPMC’s headquarters. The procession had five distinct stops, each stop highlighting the injustices UPMC workers face every day at the healthcare giant.
UPMC workers have been fasting outside UPMC’s headquarters in downtown Pittsburgh to shine a light on the immorality of poverty and how UPMC is holding our community back by paying many of its workers too little to live on.
“These past seven days have been about embodying the hardships of all UPMC workers in a form that cannot be ignored,” said faster Mary Hughes, a medical transcriptionist.. “It is immoral that workers can’t feed their families and are choosing to go hungry so their children can eat. This suffering must end and UPMC needs to improve jobs now.”
The interfaith vigil was part of Pennsylvania Interfaith Impact Network’s Love Thy Neighbor campaign, a clergy-led effort of action and prayer aimed at calling on our region’s largest charity to do more for the city of Pittsburgh. Father Eric McIntosh, who also fasted for the week, led the interfaith vigil. “UPMC must end the suffering of its workers by paying all of its employees a family-sustaining wage,” said Father Mcintosh. “We cannot continue to go about our daily lives ignoring the grave injustice that UPMC is inflicting on members of our congregations, of our communities, of our city.”

“My co-workers and I may not have the connections or the money that UPMC has, but we have the strength, the determination, our bodies and even our hunger as part of this fight,” said   faster Josh Malloy, a housekeeper at UPMC Mercy. “We are not going to stop raising our voices until UPMC changes the way it treats all of its employees.”
Together, we can Make it Our UPMC.

The sixth day of the Fast for Our Future brought a real outpouring of encouragement and support for the brave fasters. The companionship and solidarity of those who have sat with, cared for, or sent messages to the fasters have helped them to stay strong through their journey. Among today’s supporters were State Rep. Erin Molchaney, Unite Here, and labor historians from the Battle of Homestead Foundation.  Fasters were also lifted up by Fred Redmond, International Vice President of the United Steel Workers, who told them that their historic action gave hope to people everywhere, not just at UPMC.

VIDEO: Watch fasters meet with supporters on day six of Fast for Our Future

Veronica Shields, a pharmacy tech at UPMC Mercy, has always wanted to help make people well.  She does that by mixing chemotherapy treatments, IV solutions, and other compounds that are part of many patients’ treatment.
Veronica is fasting because she believes that UPMC can do better by their employees and the entire city. “The fast is a silent but powerful commentary on the dedication of UPMC workers,” Said Veronica “We are building a better tomorrow, not just for ourselves, but for all of Pittsburgh.”
Workers are fasting until 8:30 AM on Friday. To break the fast, faith leaders in the Pennsylvania Interfaith Impact Network will lead a prayer vigil outside the U.S. Steel Tower. Can you join them?

Interfaith vigil marking the end of the Fast for Our Future
Friday, April 18^th 8:30 AM
600 Grant St. UPMC Corporate Headquarters
You can RSVP for the event on Facebook – click here
Together, we can Make it Our UPMC

The cold and snow aren’t stopping the brave UPMC workers fasting this week to shine a light on the hunger and sacrifice they and their coworkers experience every day. Though they are increasingly tired and weak, their determination remains strong and their spirits were lifted by visits from adjunct professors at Duquesne University, students from the University of Pittsburgh and friends from Fight Back Pittsburgh. The Reverend William Spencer of Braddock brought greetings and congratulations from Pennsylvania Interfaith Impact Network and helped fasters to meditate on the power of ordinary people.
“My neighbors’ fight is my fight,” said Rev. Spencer, “and UPMC needs to improve jobs now.”
Josh Malloy, a housekeeper at UPMC Mercy, works to make sure the emergency rooms are clean and sterile so patients have top quality care. “I want to contribute to my community, but I can’t because on UPMC’s wages I need to work overtime just to cover my expenses,” he said. Like many of his co-workers, Josh wants a job that lets him support a family – and have time to see his family.
Josh is fasting with his coworkers to help focus attention on the immorality of poverty.  He wants to be part of making Pittsburgh a city where workers and their families can thrive. He’s calling on UPMC to use its power and wealth to help lift workers into the middle class.
Workers are fasting until 8:30 AM on Friday. To break the fast, faith leaders in the Pennsylvania Interfaith Impact Network will lead a prayer vigil outside the U.S. Steel Tower. Can you join them?

Interfaith vigil marking the end of the Fast for Our Future
Friday, April 18^th 8:30 AM
600 Grant St. UPMC Corporate Headquarters
You can RSVP for the event on Facebook – click here
Together, we can Make it Our UPMC

 

On Friday April 11th, UPMC workers began a week long fast in front of UPMC Headquarters to help shine a light on the injustices many of them are facing at Pittsburgh’s largest employer.

Fast For Our Future – Statement of Principles

• We are UPMC workers. Our fast is an act of fortitude and unity.
• We know hardship. We are accustomed to hardship created by not making enough to cover the basics.
• We stand strong and determined in our decision to fast from Friday, April 11, to Friday, April 18, to call on UPMC to find the moral compass that brought the healthcare giant into charity work in the first place.
• We seek a future where UPMC’s power and wealth are used to create a strong and healthy Pittsburgh.
• We have faith that UPMC’s growing success can drive a more socially just Pittsburgh where all our communities enjoy economic security and good health.
• We are proud of the quality of our work and believe that we can work with UPMC – not just for UPMC – in delivering quality care. To do this, we must have workplace rights, dignity, respect, and a valued voice on the job.
• We embrace the great diversity of people and traditions in Pittsburgh and we ask for your support and participation throughout our fast.

Tell the Fasters That You Stand With Them!
There are three easy ways for you to let the UPMC Workers know that you support them and that you are together with them in the fight for a united voice for UMPC employees:
1. Visit the fasters on Grant St. and write a message of support in their message book
2. Leave a voice-mail for the fasters at (412) 330-1198
3. Post your support to Facebook, Twitter and Instagram – include the hashtags#UPMCWorkers and #Fast4OurFuture