Brighton Rehab therapists preparing to go on 9-day strike, union reps say

Physical, speech and occupational therapists at Brighton Rehabilitation and Wellness Center in Beaver County are preparing to go on a nine-day strike over claims of unfair labor practices, including what they say is the nursing home’s failure to bargain in good faith.

During a news conference Wednesday afternoon, therapists represented by SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania said they have gone years without a raise and did not receive hazard pay during the covid-19 pandemic.

A group of about 17 physical, speech and occupational therapists formed a union last year and are now negotiating their first contract. Other health care workers at the Brighton Township facility are represented by SEIU, but under different bargaining units.

“Despite 200 other union caregivers at Brighton recently settling a strong contract with Comprehensive (Healthcare Management Services LLC ), therapists there say after six months of negotiating, the company has delayed sessions, showed up unprepared on multiple occasions and canceled or failed to attend scheduled negotiations on multiple occasions,” the group said.

The strike is expected to occur between Saturday and Friday, May 19. A bargaining session is scheduled for Tuesday.

Alysia Franitti, a physical therapist assistant and member of the bargaining team, said the therapy department initially was a contract company. When the contract was lost in April 2021, the department became in-house employees, but were told that nonunion employees were not eligible for raises.

Franitti said the department also found discrepancies in their pay.

“One of the biggest reasons we decided to join the union, when we were in the heat of the pandemic, we were told we were not front line workers,” Franitti said. “We did not receive referral bonuses if we got therapy staff hired because therapy was not front line. And we didn’t receive hazard pay when the facility and union workers were.”

“We want a wage scale that shows our experience. We would like appropriate raises based on the quality of care that we give our residents. And we just want them to sit down with us and bargain in good faith, and we can be here next week with the residents that we know and we care for and that we love,” she added.

The bargaining unit said it filed unfair labor practice charges against the company based on the negotiations and on the company’s alleged failure to provide its financials to the unit.

Comprehensive Healthcare operates 15 nursing and rehabilitation facilities across Western Pennsylvania. In addition to Brighton Rehab, they include facilities in Indiana Township, Irwin, Latrobe, Murrysville, Monroeville, Mt. Lebanon, Canonsburg, Greenville, Harmony, New Castle, New Wilmington and Washington.

Lara Vorrias, an occupational therapy assistant, said she is proud of the role the therapy department plays in patients’ lives.

“We come in the morning and guide them in strengthening and endurance, bathing, dressing and all those things that we in a healthy body take for granted. And we do it with kindness and compassion because any one of us can be that person in the bed.”

Steve Gadiglia, an evaluating therapist, said the lack of a pay raise has been a particular hardship as inflation has taken a greater piece of everyone’s paychecks.

“If you’re not making additional money each year, you’re losing money,” Gadiglia said. “It really creates an unsustainable situation in terms of the continuity of care for these patients. Continuity of care in this setting is so important.”

The company responds

Brighton Rehab issued a statement Wednesday evening:

“We remain incredibly disappointed that the therapists union is continuing to negotiate in bad faith and engage in unfair labor practices with its plans to strike in an unlawful manner.

“In this instance, the laws are clear – any union bargaining for its initial contract must provide 30 days’ notice to state and federal mediation services regarding a dispute so that we may use a neutral mediator to help bridge any gaps prior to issuing a 10-day notice of intent to strike. The union failed to do this from the onset of negotiations and is deliberately attempting to circumvent these laws to the detriment of its members and most importantly, the seniors and families at our facility.

“Regardless of these efforts, over the past few months we have continued to make generous wage offers that meet, and in some cases exceed, what their counterparts in other facilities are receiving.

“This includes the highest wages the facility has ever offered despite the financial difficulties the industry and our facility continue to face. While we will remain committed to negotiating and look forward to our next session scheduled for May 9, the union has refused all offers so far and is choosing to abandon their responsibility to provide care to the seniors and families at our facility.”

Company: Contingency plan in place

The statement continued:

“However, we are pleased to say that our residents and their families should rest assured knowing we have contingency plans in place to ensure that our high-quality patient-centered care will be unaffected. We remain 100% covered with highly qualified, professional staff.

“We hope that we can come to a fair and amicable agreement as soon as possible to ensure our teams and our residents continue to receive the exceptional care and support they deserve.”

Target of investigations

Comprehensive Healthcare has been the target of several federal investigations in recent years.

In 2022, federal and state law enforcement officials announced health care fraud charges against the owners and management staff at Brighton Rehab and Mt. Lebanon Rehabilitation and Wellness Center.