2,000 Des Moines area UnityPoint nurses casting groundbreaking votes on unionization this month
DES MOINES —
About 2,000 nurses in four Des Moines area UnityPoint Health campuses will vote early this month on whether to unionize their ranks for what leaders of the movement say will bring more bargaining power for salaries, benefits and working conditions through a proposed affiliation with the Teamsters Union.
Nurses are expected to vote Dec. 7 to 9 on unionization at four UnityPoint locations — Iowa Methodist Medical Center, Blank Children’s Hospital, Methodist West Hospital and Iowa Lutheran Hospital.
An affirmative vote would be a groundbreaking one in Iowa health care — and the union movement — as the Teamsters would represent nurses in non-profit hospitals, with the potential for organizing other health-care workers across a span of UnityPoint facilities in Iowa — and other medical centers in which health-care workers could be inspired by the Des Moines vote.
“We are fed up with UnityPoint whittling away at the things nurses need at the bedside,” said Alex Wilken, 39, a critical care nurse at Iowa Methodist Medical Center with more than a decade of experience.
Wilken is on the organizing committee for unionization with his nursing peers at the four centers.
“It isn’t just about pay,” Wilken said, adding that patient-staff ratios and safer working conditions are a big part of the push for what he believes will be more effective advocacy.
“The method we have here in the United States is to unionize,” Wilken said in a phone interview.
UnityPoint leaders say unionization is not in the best interests of the health-care network. UnityPoint management denied a request this summer for voluntary union recognition in workplace negotiations.
“At UnityPoint Health, we believe that direct collaboration is the foundation for building the strongest and most supportive environment for both our team members and the patients we serve,” UnityPoint officials said in a statement sent to Iowa Mercury. “For this reason, we believe that representation by an outside party is not in the best interests of our patients, our nurses or our community.”
Union organizers are holding a news conference and rally at 10 a.m. Tuesday in front of Methodist Medical Center (across from 1320 Center Street) where they will call for an investigation into how UnityPoint funded any opposition to unionization. Nurses and union officials allege that UnityPoint spent $6 million to fight unionization in a flyer promoting the Tuesday event.
UnityPoint did not respond directly to questions on funding sources for any activity related to the union vote.
Sammi Ladd, 36, a critical care nurse at Iowa Methodist, said health-care workers are concerned that staffing and security levels are not high enough to deal with patient violence. Ladd was attached by a patient while pregnant and kicked a few years later by another patient.
“I’ve seen my co-workers and friends get strangled by patients,” Ladd said.
Ladd expects the nurses to vote for unionization. The vote is managed by the National Labor Relations Board.
“I do truly think this is something that will go through,” Ladd said in an interview. “I do think this something that our community, Iowa, and nurses, deserve.”
Alano De La Rosa, the principal officer for Teamsters Local 90, which includes the Des Moines area and reaches into many other Iowa counties, said nurses will be able to negotiate with the full force of the Teamsters Union behind them. This includes a $400 million national strike fund, he said.
UnityPoint is clearly worried that the union effort with nurses at the four medical centers in the Des Moines could spread to their other facilities and staffing sectors, De La Rosa said.
“I believe it would have been considered by UnityPoint when they started cutting millions of dollars in checks to union busters,” De La Rosa said.
De La Rosa said the Teamsters Union has experience representing nurses and health-care workers.
“They are very big-hearted and they want to help everybody around them,” he said.
The vote is coming two months later than originally scheduled as as the federal government shutdown forced a postponement of a vote that had been set for early October.
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So called, Officials say, “unionization is not in the best interests of the healthcare network.” Really? Aren’t patients and the nurses and staff who serve, support and care for them , the most critically important component of their healthcare network anymore? And, isn’t providing those who serve those people with the highest standards of components, required for the provision of that quality care, the most essential part of that care system?
It’s bad enough that insurance companies have taken over major decision making authority over what care people can receive. Now, ‘affordability creep’ has invaded decisions on the very equipment, tools, morale, security and competence needed to ensure patients receive the highest quality level of care, they’ve been penuriously approved to receive.
These are the same corporate factors and practices which are degrading our schools and institutions of higher learning. How low do we intend to go when disregarding the opinions and standards of professionals on the frontlines who know the truth and best practices for taking care of us and our communities? Nurses ARE PROFESSIONALS, regardless of what edicts are pronounced by higher paid and empowered management decision makers. Unionism has always led to better conditions and outcomes for all workers and the people they serve. They are the people who labor, make the sacrifices and deliver the benefits necessary for all of us. Always have, always will; not the number crunching bottom line subjects serving bosses instead of battle worn workers.
The answer is obvious to those receiving the benefits of healthcare.
Doug, I plan to join the Zoom, a few questions?
1. What are current nurse/patients ratios for critical care, acute care, and clinics? Does UP use an acuity system for staffing?
2. Why Teamsters versus SEIU?
3. Numbers of travelers in RN, RT,CS, physician and other positions. Average hourly wage per traveler nurse? What evidence do you have that unionization will stabilize or improve staffing ratios?
4.What is the operating margin of UP at this time? CEO salary compared to lowest and average hospital staff?
Doug,My 2010 Ford Escape aka The Blue Angel, is still going and I am not giving it up. Although my mechanic has asked to buy it. There is a comfort in having two vehicles being that I am an Interstate Queen.
Lastly, you might consider tracking down Danny Homan, retired union leader,for his take on the status of unions in Iowa. I believe he is in Des Moines area.
Be well, Mary McCarthy