Nurses at St. Mary of Nazareth Hospital in Chicago voted in favor of forming a union weeks after six of their colleagues were fired just as the group prepared to unionize.
About 96% of nurses who were eligible to cast a ballot Wednesday voted in favor of being represented by the National Nurses Organizing Committee, an affiliate of the National Nurses United, according to the union. There were about 400 nurses at the hospital who were eligible to be part of the union, according to the National Labor Relations Board’s website.
The results come a week after nurses at the Ukrainian Village hospital held a one-day strike to call on hospital officials to reinstate the six nurses who were fired from the facility in recent weeks. The nurses and the union allege that they were fired for union organizing after raising concerns about deteriorating conditions in the hospital.
In a statement, St. Mary’s said it respects the outcome of Wednesday’s vote and was committed to bargaining in good faith with the union. Prime Healthcare, a large national for-profit hospital network, acquired the hospital and several other Chicago-area hospitals last year.
“While we remain concerned about the financial impact of this decision on an already strained hospital system, we support our nurses in their choice to be represented by the National Nurses Union. We look forward to a productive working relationship focused on our shared commitment to delivering high-quality, compassionate care and long-term stability for the communities that need it most,” the hospital said in an email statement.
Nurses at the hospital voiced concerns about staffing shortages, patient safety and cheaper supplies during their campaign to form a union. The union is still calling for the six fired nurses to be reinstated.
Amiee Bae was among the St. Mary’s nurses who lost their jobs in recent weeks. After seeing such a large majority of her colleagues vote in favor of the union, Bae said she had no regrets. She worked at the hospital for about eight years.
“It put tears in my eyes because it really validated everything that I did, which was to tell the public and let everybody know how dangerous it was,” she told the Sun-Times on Thursday. “Working conditions were getting unsafe for patients and for staff, and every staff member deserves to go home with their family safely.”
The National Nurses Organizing Committee represents thousands of other nurses at Chicago area hospitals, including the University of Chicago Medicine, Cook County Health and the Jesse Brown Veterans Administration Medical Center. In May, nurses at Rush University Medical Center also voted in favor of a union under the umbrella of the National Nurses Organizing Committee.
This week’s vote is part of a larger wave of unionization in health care in Chicago and across the country. Nurses at Evanston, Skokie, Glenbrook and Highland Park hospitals, all part of Endeavor Health, also started openly unionizing this spring.
