While a majority of nurses at UnityPoint Health — Des Moines voted this week to unionize in initial results, the National Labor Relations Board did not announce the outcome of the election Wednesday amid a dispute over challenged votes.
Nurses working in four UnityPoint Health locations in the Des Moines area — Iowa Methodist Medical Center, Blank Children’s Hospital, Methodist West Hospital and Iowa Lutheran Hospital — voted from Dec. 7-9 on whether to unionize. The nurses who would be represented voted on whether they wanted to become a bargaining group represented through the Teamsters Local 90.
Results were counted Wednesday, and totaled 871 votes in favor of Teamsters representation, and 666 votes opposing the union. There are 251 challenged ballots, according to a statement from UnityPoint Health, largely coming from Teamsters, which are not included in the final vote counts released Wednesday.
Approving union representation only requires a simple majority. Without the challenged ballots, the union effort is ahead by 205 votes. If all challenged ballots were approved — and if all were opposing the union — the unionization effort would be defeated.
But Nico Hernandez with Teamsters Local 90 said he did not believe the challenged ballots would be approved nor would they overturn the current election results, as the Teamsters challenged ballots of people who were ineligible to participate in the vote.
“(UnityPoint) agreed to a stipulation timeline, they agreed to a list of voters that were eligible to vote, and they intentionally tried to tell people that were ineligible to vote to go to the polls,” Hernandez said. “They told agency nurses, for example, to go vote, they told — there’s LPNs that they told to vote, people who are not registered nurses. And so as a result, there’s a fair few challenges. However, obviously, with a margin of 205, it’s very substantial, and as a result, we’re very confident that at the end of the day, once we have our day at the Labor Board, these nurses will be certified as a union. Because they have fought for so much, and they, you know, they deserve the ability to bargain and negotiate for fair protections on the job and for dignity at work.”
UnityPoint officials said in a statement they “don’t believe there is any merit to the International Brotherhood of Teamsters’ challenges.”
“We have reason to believe they only challenged the ballots of certain nurses based on how they believed those nurses would vote,” the UnityPoint statement read. “UnityPoint Health did not challenge the ballots of any nurses currently employed in the bargaining unit – we believe everyone’s vote should count and everyone’s voice should be heard.”
Hernandez said the Teamsters disputed that any ballots were challenged based on how they believed individuals would vote, as well as the claim that UnityPoint Health did not challenge ballots, saying UnityPoint challenged ballots of “people that are nurses in the bargaining unit.”
According to a statement from UnityPoint Health – Des Moines, the NLRB “has not confirmed an outcome to today’s vote, which means a result is undetermined and there is no union at UnityPoint Health – Des Moines.”
The effort to form “United Nurses of Iowa” effort has built over more than a year as some nurses sought voluntary recognition from UnityPoint for the planned bargaining group in August before moving forward with an NLRB vote. The vote was originally scheduled for October, but was delayed due to the government shutdown.
Nurses involved in the organizing effort said they were pursuing a union as a way to address issues like staff shortages, safety concerns and compensation.
Following the vote, there will be a hearing scheduled with the NLRB to go over the facts of the case — something Hernandez said the Teamsters are “hopeful that it’ll be scheduled as soon as possible.”
“We’re looking forward to, you know, get this thing across the finish line,” Hernandez said. “These nurses know that they’ve won their union. We just need to get the paperwork.”
UnityPoint officials said the health care system “will continue to stay focused on delivering exceptional care to our patients, families, and communities” while proceeding through the NLRB process for evaluating challenged ballots.
