Mar 2, 2017 3 min read

Employees of Washington County Health Center attended every public meeting of the county commissioners since the possible sale of the facility made headlines in late November.

The purple-shirted workers were present Thursday, too, but there were a few differences. Instead of signing in for public comment and urging the commissioners to reconsider, health center employees staged what a union leader called a “silent protest.” The workers continued what they called a “sticker campaign” with the slogans, “People’s Needs, Not Corporate Greed,” and “Respect. We earned it … we deserve it.”

And there was another wrinkle.

In a collective bargaining session that lasted about 2 ½ hours Wednesday, the county reached a tentative agreement with the rank-and-file county employees who are members of Service Employees International Union Local 668, which the county is calling “the residual unit,” and a possible accord with SEIU Healthcare PA, which represents about 300 workers at the health center.

Pacts with both groups expired at midnight Dec. 31, and employees have continued to work under the terms of the old contracts.

The negotiations coincided with the announcement by the commissioners that six firms have submitted proposals to purchase the 40-year-old health center in Arden, Chartiers Township: Grane Associates LP of Pittsburgh; Premier Healthcare Management LLC of Philadelphia; Comprehensive Healthcare Management Services Group of Hewlett, N.Y.; SolaMed Inc. of Brooklyn, N.Y.; Homestead Group of (Newton) New Jersey LLC; and Stone Barn Holdings of Amelia Island, Fla.

The health center is on target to lose $4 million this year, and losses since 2011 totaled $9 million. The commissioners have said shrinking state and federal reimbursements have made the operation of a county-owned nursing home unsustainable. A purchase price has not yet been revealed.

“I think a lot of people are disappointed in that respect,” said Kathy Shaner, a union representative at the health center who hopes to avert privatization. “We’re still hopeful.”

Scott Fergus, director of administration for the county, declined to discuss the results of the session with the union locals.

“There will be no information about what it is until they have a chance to talk about it with their members,” he said.

Dawn Futrell, administrative organizer for SEIU Healthcare PA, confirmed this.

The commissioners have said one of the terms of the sale will be an opportunity for current workers to interview with a new owner of the 288-bed facility. But they have termed the recent negotiations with health center employees “impact bargaining” because the county would no longer be the employer. Rather than a traditional contract, any agreement with health center workers would basically cover severance.

Last month, the union protested the commissioners granting a 3 percent raise to health center management while continuing to cite fiscal insolvency as the primary reason to sell the nursing home.

Members of SEIU Local 668 have scheduled a vote on a tentative contract for Monday. It could not be immediately determined when Healthcare PA members might vote.