UPMC to pay workers $15 per hour by 2021

After several years of workers calling for higher wages, UPMC announced on Tuesday that by 2021, its minimum starting wage for employees would reach $15 per hour, and average service worker pay would surpass $15 per hour by 2019.

The raise will apply to most of UPMC’s Pittsburgh facilities, including Presbyterian Shadyside hospital, UPMC Mercy, Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC and Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC. The pay increases will begin Jan. 1, 2017, which UPMC based on a market analysis to keep wages competitive, it said in a release.

“We are very proud of our wages, generous benefits and other rewards and of the tens of thousands of jobs at UPMC that have meaning and purpose, and that fulfill an incredibly important mission for the region and the communities that we serve,” John Galley, UPMC’s senior vice president and chief human resources officer, said in a statement.

UPMC is the Pittsburgh region’s largest employer with about 62,000 workers across all of its facilities.

Employees who will earn $15 per hour and take full advantage of the hospital’s benefit package will earn, in total, more than $24 per hour by 2019.

Several calls to SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania, the labor union that is working to unionize UPMC employees, were not returned. Pennsylvania’s current minimum wage is $7.25 per hour.

“We are particularly pleased to offer entry-level employment to those with fewer technical skills and training,” Galley said.

UPMC’s decision to raise wages comes several years after workers at its hospitals began demanding higher pay.

Earlier this month, hundreds of workers with UPMC and SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania demonstrated at the UPMC’s headquarters Downtown to demand a higher minimum wage. The workers occupied an entire intersection during rush hour traffic, and some sat down by the door of the headquarters, refusing to move, according to an SEIU release.

In a statement issued Tuesday morning, Mayor William Peduto said he is honored to have UPMC join the movement to increase the minimum wage. In November, Peduto issued an executive order that would put in place a $15 per hour minimum wage for all city workers by 2021.

“Today is a big step forward. I commend UPMC for taking this step on behalf of low-income employees, many of whom are Pittsburgh residents, and for showing how good wages mean good business for employers,” Peduto said.

Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, too, commended UPMC.

“I also applaud Mayor Peduto for ensuring that we continue to narrow the wage gap in our community. The county had also made that commitment to ensure that our full-time county employees receive the wages that they deserve for the betterment of their families,” Fitzgerald said.

Other local leaders, including city Councilwoman Natalia Rudiak and Pennsylvania state Representative Dan Frankel (D-Allegheny) issued statements in support of UPMC and its workers.

“As one of western Pennsylvania’s largest employers, UPMC is showing leadership on this issue. The minimum wage in Pennsylvania has been stuck … while all of our neighboring states have raised theirs,” Frankel said.

Rudiak, who has long fought for higher pay for local workers, said in a release she had “no doubt” the wage raise was a result of worker’s advocacy, even though UPMC employees are not part of a labor union.Rudiak said UPMC’s decision was a step in the right direction.

“Today … I celebrate UPMC’s decision to raise minimum wages at most facilities to $15/hour,” Rudiak said in a statement. “Today, we pause to celebrate, and tomorrow, we continue to fight for a union.”