Two labor organizations filed an antitrust complaint against UPMC with the Department of Justice accusing the health care giant of using its market dominance to tamp down wages and trap workers in low-paying, unsafe conditions.

In a 55-page complaint filed Thursday, SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania and the Strategic Organizing Center contend that Pittsburgh-based UPMC used its position as the largest private employer in Pennsylvania to “suppress workers’ wages and benefits, drastically increase their workloads, and prevent workers from exiting or improving these working conditions through a draconian system of mobility restrictions and widespread labor law violations that lock in sub-competitive pay and working conditions.”

The organizations are asking the DOJ to investigate UPMC for alleged violations of federal antitrust law.

The complaint breaks new ground in arguing that labor law violations should be considered a form of anticompetitive conduct, the labor organizations said.

UPMC employs about 92,000 workers and, through a series of expansions and acquisitions over the last two decades, has become the largest private employer in state. The health care system comprises 40 hospitals and 800 outpatient facilities. It is the 18th largest hospital chain in the country.

“Traditionally, workers have two ways to compete for jobs in labor markets,” Matt Yarnell, president, SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania, said in a press conference Thursday. “They can leave their current job and...

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