IAM Healthcare Members Deliver More than 1,200 Signatures on Safe Staffing Petition, Prepare to Picket Ohio State Executives

IAM Healthcare Bargaining Committee Member Kelly Williams read a powerful message from her coworkers in the executive office of The Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center. Her statement listed the reasons safe staffing levels are critical to patient care at OSU hospitals and called for OSU executives to recruit and retain more front-line healthcare staff.

Williams’ courage was reinforced by the fact that OSU Chief Operating Officer Jay Anderson’s office was packed full of her coworkers. The petitions they delivered were from more than 1,200 front-line healthcare workers and Columbus community members supporting these IAM Healthcare members.                                                                       

“We routinely hear stories of patient care units that should be staffed with one Patient Care Associate for four, five, or six patients,” said Williams. “But instead they are expected to care for 10, 11, 12 or more patients at once.” 

The Medical Center has acknowledged a first-year turnover rate of more than 50% among the highly skilled Patient Care Associates (PCAs) and Psychiatric Care Technicians (PCTs). 

“It’s clear when we’re given the bare minimum of PCTs that staffing is done reactively and not proactively.” said Dylan England-Carroll, a Senior PCT who also read a statement on behalf of their coworkers. “Our patients are going through the toughest days of their lives. They deserve better from the hospital, but OSU executives are giving them the bare minimum number of support staff and stretching us thin.”

The day after the action, OSU Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) Deana Sievert attended negotiations to respond to IAM Healthcare members’ critical staffing and ratio concerns. Bargaining committee members asked questions and delivered powerful testimonies on the daily challenges faced by patients, PCAs and PCTs. IAM Healthcare Bargaining Committee Members expressed appreciation for CNO Sievert’s respectful engagement, but said it was clear that she and other executives lack a concrete plan to address the understaffing crisis. 

In response to the continued failures of OSU executives, PCA and PCT workplace leaders have called for an informational picketing action at the Medical Center on Tuesday, March 19, 2025. 

With the only remaining scheduled meeting date between the parties and a federal mediator approaching, the workplace leaders say they and their colleagues are prepared to take further action if OSU executives do not make movement on safe staffing, recruitment, and retention.

IAM Healthcare is a rapidly growing department within the powerhouse IAM Union, which has more than 600,000 current and retired members across the U.S. and Canada. International Union leaders backed their membership’s readiness for further action.