Author Archives: Make It Our UPMC

Join us Monday in marching fired UPMC workers Frank Lavelle and Ron Oakes back to work after winning their jobs back in a historic settlement of workers’ rights charges against UPMC.
Frank and Ron were fired after joining with their coworkers to form a union at UPMC. But they did not back down. Together with their coworkers and the support of the community, Frank and Ron kept up the fight and proved to everyone in Pittsburgh that when we stand together, we can move even the largest and most powerful institution in our city.
Show Frank and Ron and all the workers at UPMC that we have their back by joining them for the march on Monday.
Monday, February 25
1:30 pm Reception, 2 pm Rally and March
Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall
4141 Fifth Avenue in Oakland
Click Here To RSVP on Facebook

Following our successful canvass earlier this month on Pittsburgh’s South Side, we signed up hundreds more supporters in East Liberty on Saturday to hold $10 billion UPMC accountable to its workers and the community.
“It hasn’t been easy, and I know a lot of people in Pittsburgh think UPMC is too big and too powerful for us to make it act like we all know it should,” CJ Patterson, East Liberty resident and GI technician at UPMC Presbyterian, told the crowd before the canvass.
“But I’m here to tell you that together, we are too big and too powerful for UPMC to not act like it should.  It’s going to take hard work but I know we can do it together.”
Sate Rep. Ed Gainey, D- 24^th, also joined canvassers on Saturday and asked workers and the community to stand up for a living wage and for UPMC to pay its fair share.
People are asking about UPMC’s role as a public charity. Does a real public charity’s CEO make $6 million a year? Does it use its tax-exempt status to enrich its real estate portfolio? Does it spend less than 2 percent of its revenue on charity care? Does a real public charity try to stop its employees from trying to have a voice on the job?
We asked those questions and the community answered loud and clear – it’s time to hold UPMC accountable. Let’s keep building the movement to make UPMC act like a real charity. Together, we can Make It Our UPMC.

Following our community canvass success in South Side Pittsburgh on Feb. 2, we are again taking our movement to city neighborhoods. Join us Saturday, Feb. 16, in East Liberty to make UPMC act like a real charity.
Last month Pittsburghers joined together to deliver our Code of Conduct for a Strong, Healthy Pittsburgh to our elected representatives and urged them to join us in holding UPMC accountable to the needs of our community.
We asked, does a real charitable hospital…

• Close down Braddock Hospital just to open one across the street from a competitor?
• Give executives multi-million dollar paychecks, private jets and marble bathrooms – while many frontline workers struggle to make   ends meet?
• Threaten to shut its doors to 3 million area residents who carry the “wrong” insurance?
• Take billions of dollars of property off the tax rolls while we make painful cuts to our schools and vital public services?
• Aggressively oppose workers who are standing together to raise standards for all working people in our region?
• Creating and delivering our Code of Conduct was just the beginning. We’re building a movement of our friends, families, neighbors and co-workers to make sure UPMC lives up to the law and acts like a real public charity.

What: “Making UPMC Act Like a Charity” Community Outreach Day
When: Saturday, Feb. 16, 10am – 1pm
Where: 5907 Penn Ave, Pittsburgh 15206
We will provide hot drinks and lunch, but come dressed for the weather.

UPMC workers have stood up to Pittsburgh’s goliath and proved that UPMC is not above the law.
Facing the prospect of a trial over 80 separate alleged violations of labor law committed by 59 different UPMC managers and executives, UPMC has settled charges workers brought to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) last year.
UPMC’s settlement with the NLRB is a victory for the workers who are bravely standing up for middle class jobs from the region’s largest employer – a “non-profit” corporation that has $4 billion in the bank – showing their entire community that UPMC can be held accountable.
Continue reading →

Saturday morning was cold and snowy, but after hearing from City Councilman Daniel Lavelle, Braddock community activist Pam Lee, and UPMC worker Christoria Hughes, Make It Our UPMC supporters were fired up and ready to go.

Against the backdrop of UPMC’s logo at the top of the US Steel tower, Make It Our UPMC canvassers fanned out across the South Side to sign up hundreds more Pittsburghers to help hold UPMC accountable to our community’s needs.  Make It Our UPMC supporters last month marched through downtown Pittsburgh and delivered the Code of Conduct for a Strong, Healthy Pittsburgh  to UPMC, Mayor Luke Ravenstahl and County Executive Rich Fitzgerald,urging them to stand with us in making UPMC put our city before corporate profits.
People across the region are asking about UPMC’s role as a public charity. Does a real public charity’s CEO make $6 million a year? Does it use its tax-exempt status to enrich its real estate portfolio? Does it spend less than 2 percent of its revenue on charity care? Does a real public charity try to stop its employees from trying to have a voice on the job and create middle-class jobs for working people in region?
We took those questions to our neighbors and they answered loud and clear – it’s time to hold UPMC accountable. Let’s keep building the movement to make UPMC act like a real charity. Join us as we go out again to talk to our neighbors and friends on Saturday Feb. 16 when we’ll be going to East Liberty. Stay tuned to the Make It Our UPMC facebook page for updates.
Together, we can Make It Our UPMC.
Join our movement to make UPMC put our community first. Like us on Facebook  and follow us on twitter @MakeItOurUPMC

If you’re like most Pittsburghers, you can’t go far without seeing UPMC. From the corporate healthcare Goliath’s million dollar sign at the top of the US Steel tower, to UPMC hospitals and medical facilities, the hundreds of billboards and ads on the sides of busses, we all know too well just how real – and how very big – UPMC is.
In this week’s City Paper, Charlie Deitch reports the shocking news that UPMC doesn’t actually exist, at least according it’s lawyers.
Continue reading →

Everybody has been talking about it. Now we’re doing something about it.
Last week, Pittsburghers joined together to deliver our Code of Conduct for a Strong, Healthy Pittsburgh to our elected representatives and urged them to join us in holding UPMC accountable to the needs of our community.
We asked, does a real charitable hospital…

• Close down Braddock Hospital just to open one across the street from a competitor?
• Give executives multi-million dollar paychecks, private jets and marble bathrooms – while many frontline workers struggle to make   ends meet?
• Threaten to shut its doors to 3 million area residents who carry the “wrong” insurance?
• Take billions of dollars of property off the tax rolls while we make painful cuts to our schools and vital public services?
• Aggressively oppose workers who are standing together to raise standards for all working people in our region?
• Creating and delivering our Code of Conduct was just the beginning. We’re building a movement of our friends, families, neighbors and co-workers to make sure UPMC lives up to the law and acts like a real public charity.

What: “Making UPMC Act Like a Charity” Community Outreach Day
When: Saturday, Feb. 2, 10am – 1pm
Where: 1414 Brighton Road, Pittsburgh 15212
Join us in the movement on Feb. 2. We will provide hot drinks and lunch, but come dressed for the weather.

UPMC Code of Conduct for a Strong, Healthy Pittsburgh

 As Pittsburgh’s dominant health system and largest employer, UPMC is a key community asset that plays a vital role in our region’s economy.  The people of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County share a common stake in UPMC’s growth and success.
With success comes a serious set of responsibilities to the members of our community – healthcare consumers, taxpayers, and employees.  As our region’s  largest tax-exempt charity, UPMC must put the strength and health of our community first.
Over the last decade we have watched while UPMC executives have built a regional and even global corporate empire, marked by excessive executive compensation; closing down hospitals in underserved neighborhoods and opening them in affluent suburbs and foreign countries; attempting to deny access to millions of patients who are Highmark subscribers; failing to pay their fair share to support vital public services like schools, transit, and public health infrastructure; and harassing employees who are exercising their right to form a union to advocate for quality, middle class jobs for our community.
We call upon UPMC to begin living up to its responsibilities as our community’s largest tax-exempt charity by embracing the following Code of Conduct for a Strong, Healthy Pittsburgh.

•  Guaranteeing equal access to our community’s healthcare institutions.  UPMC will ensure affordable access to all of its healthcare facilities and services and will not discriminate based on insurance status.

•  Paying its fair share to support public services.  UPMC will contribute its fair share to support vital public services such as our schools, our transit system, and our public health infrastructure.

• Respecting employees’ rights and supporting good, safe, middle class jobs for our community.  UPMC will ensure family sustaining wages and benefits for all employees.  UPMC will respect caregivers’ freedom to form a union for a voice at work, cease and desist from interfering with employees’ exercise of their rights, and refrain from spending healthcare resources on anti-union consultants and campaigning.

• Promoting our community’s health.  UPMC will work with local officials, advocacy organizations, and the other healthcare providers to improve our community’s health status by promoting quality primary and preventive healthcare across our region and seeking to eliminate health disparities.

Charitable hospitals have been a part of healthcare since the founding of our country. Churches created hospitals to care for the needy and the sick, and the public exempted them from further obligations to our community since they provided so much care free of charge. It seemed like a win-win for everyone.
Many of today’s charitable hospitals don’t look much like charities, but they’re still getting the same tax benefits.
When Presbyterian Hospital (now part of UPMC) was founded in 1893 by a minister’s wife, its mission was to serve the sick and poor immigrants of Pittsburgh who had nowhere else to go. Pittsburgh’s Presbyterian community had to raise money just to keep the doors open.
Today, UPMC is a $10 billion global health enterprise with vast property holdings and hundreds of millions of dollars in annual profits, and many believe that as UPMC has become richer and richer, it has turned away from its mission and the responsibilities that comes with its charity status.   Continue reading →