Nurse unionization push stalls at IU Health hospitals
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - The efforts to unionize more than 3,900 nurses at three Indiana University Health hospitals have stalled.
The United Steelworkers union is working to earn support from nurses at IU Health's Methodist, University and Riley hospitals in Indianapolis, where there have been complaints of low staffing levels, low pay and troublesome attendance policies.
But Maria Somma, organizing coordinator for the Pittsburgh-based Steelworkers union, which was invited to work on the unionizing effort about nine months ago, told The Indiana Business Journal (http://bit.ly/1j59Iyy ) that there's no estimated date for a vote.
The union wants two-thirds of nurses to sign cards before a vote but did not say how many nurses had signed cards so far. The union has been collecting signatures since March; those signatures are good for one year.
"Working conditions are so difficult for nurses, there is a very high turnover rate," Somma said. "Some of our strongest supporters have found work elsewhere because they just can't take it anymore."
IU Health spokeswoman Lauren Cislak says the hospital system wants to remain a non-union workplace, saying a union is "not in the best interest of our nurses or patients."
The Indiana Hospital Association and the Indiana State Nurses Association said no hospitals in the state have unionized nurses except the federally run Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
It's unusual for organizing campaigns to stretch out as long as it has with IU Health and it can be difficult for unions to rekindle support, said Dennis Devaney, a labor attorney in Michigan who represents the McLaren Health Care hospital system.
"It's hard to make a comeback, if you're doing really well and then lose momentum," he said.
The average time for a union campaign is two months, said Joseph Varga, a labor activist and labor-studies professor at Indiana University.
"It is relatively unusual for unions to ask for the delay, in my experience, but it does happen," Varga said. "It is far more likely in most cases that the employer delays the election, allowing for more time to influence workers."
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Information from: Indianapolis Business Journal, http://www.ibj.com