Many of you have recently received a letter from Mr William R. Jennings concerning a letter you received from the PSEA.

Please place this newsletter down beside the SHHS letter and evaluate the contents and validate their truthfulness on your own.

The purpose of the card the PSEA is asking you to sign is to indicate to the NLRB that the employees of SSHS have a significant enough interest in the PSEA to warrant an election.

The phrase "Assignment of bargaining rights" does authorize the PSEA and its agents or representatives (which would of course be coworkers from each unit that were elected by you) to be your exclusive representative in all negotiations with SHHS with respect to wages, hours of work and all other terms and conditions of employment. You are not giving your up you rights to anyboby.You will be claiming your right to be heard

It is binding in the respect that when the PSEA wins the election they will be the sole union to represent you and SHHS will legally have to accept this.

You do not give up any rights by joining the PSEA. You have no rights, you are an at will employee. That means SHHS determines what is best for you and, like it or not, you will have to live with it.

Yes the PSEA, will determine the changes that will be bargained

for.

What Mr William R. Jennings conveniently fails to mention is that the PSEA is you !!! It is not some third party. Your elected co-workers will be your authorized representatives in the bargaining process.

The PSEA can not and have not guaranteed any specific changes or improvements. We wont even suggest any untill we have your input.

What we do guarantee is that you will be able to vote on any changes to be made to your wages,hours of work and all other terms and conditions of employment.

MR Jennings continues to use the threat of the PSEA taking you out on strike.

Ninety nine percent of the employees who received the letter that Mr .Jennings mentioned have already signed a card, which is how the PSEA got their address. Think about it, have they lost any rights.

Regarding the dues The PSEA employs lawyers, legal consultants, negotiation specialist media representatives etc..Consider it a wise investment. By the way, they are tax deductible. Wouldn't it have been nice if SHHS showed the same concern with our finances when they eliminated step increases, withheld raises and increased our insurance cost?

Read the article below to see the result of working together.

The Daily News

UPMC Adverts Strike

By Brian Krasman

Daily News Staff Writer

Nurses at UPMC McKeesport have a new three year contract after a vote yesterday afternoon

The motion for a rubber stamp averted a potential strike that was to take place at 6:40 this morning if new pacts were not agreed to.

"We are pleased to announce that the nurses represented by(Service Employees International Union Local 585) at UPMC McKeesport (yesterday) ratified the contract with a vote of 153-67,"said Edward E. Mcginley, chief spokesperson at UPMC Health System."The new contract goes into effect immediately and will continue untill Dec. 21,2002."

Ann Brumfield, senior representative for SEIU Local 585,said the nurses will receive a 3.75 percent increase the first year of the deal, a 3.25 increase the second year and a 3 percent increase the final year of the agreement.

A few language adjustments were made to the deal, and modest co-payments were approved. In addition, nurses will be able to keep union sponsored pension plan and will get paid overtime for work over 8 hours a day.

"Its a good contract, "Brumfield said".

Although the pact was passed, 67 nurses still voted against the deal. Brumfield said, some did not like the medical insurance co-payments, and some disliked the new pay scale, which she said includes more steps.

"People have to take a little longer to get to the top,"Brumfield explained".

The agreement was sparked, Brumfield said,by the insistence of nurses to get a deal done instead of letting the issue linger. She said the approval of the new deal proves it does not pay to be "wishy-washy."