Union workers concerned over UPMC’s plan to take over Washington Hospital

WASHINGTON COUNTY, Pa. — UPMC plans to take over a big hospital in our area - but the people who work there aren’t on board.

Washington Hospital union workers told us they don’t want UPMC to take over the Washington Health System.

The two health systems announced the plan in June.

Their biggest concerns are their contract and quality of patient care.

They tell us they are afraid that if UPMC takes over, the quality of care will drop and worker expectations might change.

About 300 Washington hospital workers are part of the SEIU Healthcare union.

11 News spoke with the union president, Melissa Duran, at Thursday morning’s rally.

“If UPMC took over, I think that the quality of care would go downhill. It’s more ‘What can we get out of you?’ than ‘What can we do for you?’ We were always taught here, you treat every patient like family,” Duran said.

Even though this potential merger was announced in June, the Attorney General will have to review the deal before it goes through.

We have reached out to the attorney general, Washington Hospital and UPMC but have not heard back.

When the merger plan was announced, the president and CEO of Washington Health System said there would be no major changes in the type of care at its hospitals.

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