Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, has become the first county in the United States to guarantee paid parental leave, and UE helped to get the measure passed. On October 20, Allegheny County Council passed a bill that grants all new parents 12 weeks of paid leave when they welcome a newborn into their families. The measure passed with 11 votes for and four against, and grants leave to both birthing and non-birthing parents. It also grants the same paid time for parents who adopt or experience stillbirths. The measure was passed without any tax increases to working families, as employers of new parents will be required to pay their full wages for the provision of the leave. The bill was signed by County Executive and UE ally Sara Innamorato the next day, and will go into effect one year after signing.

The paid parental leave bill marks the victory of a months-long campaign fought by labor leaders, healthcare advocates, progressive political groups, and the working-class people of Allegheny County in general. In addition to granting new parents the time they deserve with their newborns, the measure aims to improve health outcomes of new parents as well as to combat Allegheny County’s maternal mortality rates. Despite being home to major healthcare networks like AHN and UPMC, the latter being the state’s largest employer and healthcare conglomerate alike, and therefore deriving a large part of its economy from medicine, Allegheny County has some of the highest rates maternal morbidity and mortality rates in the country — rates that have only been increasing over time. Per data collected by the Allegheny County Health Department, the number of mothers experiencing severe health complications after giving birth nearly doubled from 2016 to 2023, and maternal mortality rates increased by 50 percent in the same timeframe. Parents who have Medicaid were twice as likely to experience complications after pregnancy than those with private insurance, and black women in particular suffered the most — experiencing mortality rates two to three times higher than white women in the county.

All of this data prompted the bill’s introduction this spring, as studies show that women are far less likely to experience medical complications if they are granted adequate leave after giving birth, rather than being forced back to work immediately afterwards. This also led to the county health department unanimously recommending passage of the bill. The county government allowed for written comment on the measure shortly afterward, and thousands of people submitted statements, overwhelmingly in support. UE locals in the county were part of this push, as union members shared the webpage for public comment in their social networks and encouraged as many people as possible to support the bill. Likewise, the UE Eastern Region signed on as an official supporter of the bill, and joined other unions like SEIU in advocating for its passage by the council.

UE members in the county participated in several “pack the room” campaigns during council meetings in order to show how popular and needed paid parental leave is. During these meetings, the overwhelming majority of verbal statements given by the public were in favor of the measure — estimated to be 85-90 percent of comments given. Opposition to the bill was minor, and primarily came from business owners who opposed being liable for paying their employees’ wages while they are on leave. Members from UE Local 696 were present at the majority of county council hearings on the measure, along with international representative Ben Wilson, and Local 696 President and Eastern Region Vice President Sophie Nighswander gave a verbal statement on behalf of UE in its support. “We have a chance to help turn Allegheny County into a healthcare hub in a truly meaningful way by actually caring for the health outcomes of new mothers and infants,” she said during her statement, “and to do right by all the workers in our county by supporting families when they are at their most vulnerable.”

After months of hearings, rallies, and campaigns for support, the workers of Allegheny County have won a major victory to improve their health and wellbeing. As Pennsylvania’s state government has refused to act to grant working families the leave they deserve, Allegheny County has paved the way for other counties in the state and country to follow their lead by providing it more locally. In addition, since parental leave is often a major concern for locals in bargaining, and having adequate leave guaranteed by county law can now take this matter off the table during contract negotiations, and unions in Allegheny County can focus on other concerns when bargaining, and their employers can no longer use it as leverage in those same meetings.

“It was so empowering and uplifting to hear people from nearly every walk of life stand in support of paid parental leave,” said UE Local 696 Vice President Nina Mulroy. “Across the few meetings I attended, the support ranged from anecdotes that covered the emotional reasoning to peer reviewed studies that prove why this is such a monumentally important change for our county. We made history here, all of it for the betterment of families, parents, children, and communities, and that's something Pittsburgh can be proud of.”