Nearly 1,000 Mount Nittany Workers Launch 5-Day Strike for Quality Patient Care and Good Jobs

On Monday, July 27, nearly 1,000 workers employed at Mount Nittany Medical Center in State College, PA hit the picket lines on a 5-day strike. For months, workers have been in the midst of negotiations with the hospital in an attempt to secure fair wages and improvements to workplace and patient safety. Nearly all of the staff at Mount Nittany are represented by SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania and the workers include registered nurses, emergency department technicians, lab technicians, skilled maintenance, phlebotomists, certified nurse aides, environmental services aides, radiology technologists, and nutrition workers, among others.

"...for the most part, we've come to learn that they're not willing to actually put the money and put the power into the actual workers that are in the house and like feet on the ground."

On July 8, after months of unproductive negotiations, workers voted by 98% to strike and provided an 18-day window where management could ensure patient safety and continuity of care. According to a statement provided by the union, "Workers expressed their disappointment after the most recent negotiations session, where management proposed a one-year contract with a one-time $1,000 bonus in lieu of investments in wages to recruit and retain all workers. Kathleen Rhine has yet to attend a single negotiations session despite her decision-making position as the president and CEO of Mount Nittany Health. Hospital management has also been using intimidation and coercion tactics against workers, including threats of termination, for collective action and engaging in union activity."

"We started [negotiations] with the hopes of safe staffing, having a better safety aspect in the hospital, and getting a quality of wages that was better for everyone across the board," Josh Rosefsky, maintenance worker with 15 years of tenure at the hospital, told Words About Work. "We've made some movements on some of the stuff with the employer, but for the most part, we've come to learn that they're not willing to actually put the money and put the power into the actual workers that are in the house and like feet on the ground."

Workers are focused on securing fair wages that keep up with the high cost of living in State College and better working conditions that ensure high quality of patient care and safety. According to the union, Mount Nittany is "very financially healthy" and has the resources to invest in its workforce. "While workers have been struggling, Mount Nittany made $509 million in total revenue and $183 million in profits in fiscal year 2025. Mount Nittany is also carrying out rapid expansion, including constructing the $350 million patient tower, purchasing a new dermatology practice for $2.3 million, expanding in Bellefonte, and opening a new $90 million facility in Toftrees," the union said.

In the weeks leading up to the strike, workers from all over the region joined Mount Nittany workers for a press conference outside the hospital. Kelsye Stott, respiratory therapist and 15-year employee at Mount Nittany welcomed the support from the wider community. "The support of the community has been amazing, to say the least," she said. "It's been very appreciated and just really heartwarming to see that we have such a strong community backing."

"The community knows that their fight is our fight. Mount Nittany should be run like a community hospital, not a for-profit business. Corporate greed has no place in our local healthcare, and Mount Nittany healthcare workers are stepping up to struggle for better for all of us. This isn't the State College or the Centre County of ten or twenty years ago," said Connor Lewis, President of Seven Mountains AFL-CIO and TNG-CWA 32035 member. "This is a union town and a union county, and working people aren't going to stand for mistreatment from some of the area's largest employers. No matter where working people are fighting for respect and dignity, our area labor unions will have their backs."

The structure of the union has made it easier for workers to strengthen their position in negotiations, and maintain a stronger sense of solidarity throughout the hospital. "It's not just nurses that staff hospitals. It's down to EVS that cleans the rooms, and your lab techs that collect blood so that we can get results to be able to treat patients, x-ray, maintenance, nutrition, all of that. Those are the areas that people seem to forget that staff these facilities, and they matter too," Stott said. "Our number one goal has been to remain united, and in unity there is strength."

"This strike is on the bosses, and they need to realize that the community backs their healthcare workers. We won't stand for the disrespect and disregard they've shown their healthcare workers."

“Mount Nittany has really left us with no choice but to strike," said Fawn Guignet, a registered nurse in the Emergency Room who has worked at Mount Nittany Medical Center for 10 years. "Quality patient care depends on dedicated workers from wall to wall – staff who disinfect rooms, fix broken equipment, prepare meals, take accurate lab tests and scans for diagnosis, transport patients, begin chest compressions, and more. But instead of valuing the people who make care possible, Mount Nittany executives are offering increases that don’t keep up with rising costs or inflation. CEO Kathleen Rhine hasn’t even come to negotiate with us, despite us repeatedly asking. It’s disrespectful. We dedicate our lives to serving this community, but now it’s hard to afford living here. We’re calling on Mount Nittany executives to show that you care about the future of our patients, our community, and the workers who care for them day in and day out.”

"Mount Nittany Health and CEO Kathleen Rhine need to get back to the table and negotiate a fair contract with fair, across-the-board raises and serious solutions for worker and patient safety," Lewis said. "This strike is on the bosses, and they need to realize that the community backs their healthcare workers. We won't stand for the disrespect and disregard they've shown their healthcare workers."

The workers’ contract expired on July 1. After requesting additional dates from Mount Nittany, workers are scheduled to return back to the bargaining table on Monday, August 3.

This article has been updated to include a statement from the president of Seven Mountains AFL-CIO in Central Pennsylvania.