(NEW KENSINGTON, Pa.) – Members of Teamsters Local 30 at Allegheny Health Network’s (AHN) New Kensington Express and Primacy Care facility rallied alongside local elected officials, members of the community, and Teamsters across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to demand AHN keep the clinic open.
“Our community relies on the care provided by Teamsters and needs this facility to stay open,” said Gino Bessetti, President of Local 30. “It would be shameful to close this thriving facility. AHN is attempting to break our members’ hard-won union.”
“Every worker should have the freedom to form and join a union without fear of retaliation,” said Congressman Chris Deluzio (D-PA-17th District). “My message is simple: our country should always respect that freedom, and we need more health care options in our region, not fewer.”
In closing this facility, AHN would force New Kensington residents — a majority of whom are elderly — to travel across the Allegheny River and into a neighboring town to receive in-network medical attention. Local 30 has filed an unfair labor practice charge against AHN for their blatant union-busting effort that threatens to close the clinic.
“Without access to care provided by this office, many of our patients would likely end up in the hospital,” said Mari Kerr, a nurse practitioner at AHN in New Kensington. “We don’t want to see this happen, and we are calling on AHN to stop trying to break our union with its threats to close down the New Kensington facility.”
Teamsters Local 30 represents 1,900 workers in a wide variety of industries in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. For more information, visit teamsterslocal30.com.
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