Nurses at 4 hospitals file for union elections

Registered nurses at hospitals in four states have filed petitions with the National Labor Relations Board seeking union elections to join the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee.

The petitions were filed over the past week at Providence St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, Calif.; Flagstaff (Ariz.) Medical Center, part of Northern Arizona Healthcare; Endeavor Health Edward Hospital in Naperville, Ill.; and CommonSpirit Memorial Hospital in Chattanooga, Tenn., according to an Oct. 13 union news release. The four hospitals employ a combined 4,500 nurses, the union said. Election dates have not been set.

NLRB filings list about 1,000 employees in the proposed units at Providence St. Joseph and Edward Hospital, and about 700 at CommonSpirit Memorial.

Nurses said they are organizing to have more of a say in patient care and staffing. “We want to have a voice in patient care and be strong advocates for our patients and ourselves,” said Amy Alaimo-Kruse, RN, a nurse at Edward Hospital, in the release.

Endeavor Health said in a statement to Becker’s that it respects nurses’ right to choose whether to unionize but believes “direct conversations between our nurses and leadership” are the best way to address challenges. Northern Arizona Healthcare said in a statement that it respects nurses’ right to decide but wants “to continue collaborating as one team without a union.”

Becker’s has reached out to Providence and CommonSpirit for comment and will update this story if more information becomes available.

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