PA Labor Board Rules in Favor of Nurses

More than 50 workers at Gracedale, the county’s nursing home, have selected the United Steelworkers as their bargaining agent. A formal vote will be scheduled for later this year.

"It’s a good feeling. The Steelworkers have been with us the whole way," said Judy Barron, a 17-year Gracedale nurse.

Workers first sought the right to organize in May but got put on hold because county administrators fought the move.

Administrators said the nurses were supervisors and did not have the right to collect bargaining. The state saw it differently. The board ruled the nurses are not supervisors because they do not have the traditional power of supervisors, such as the hiring and firing of employees.

"We have never been in management and we have never been unionized. We’ve been in the middle," Barron said. "All we’re looking for is a little fairness."

The threat of layoffs and a wage freeze prompted the workers to organize.