Nurses at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring, Md., are divided over unionization efforts, reports InsideSources.
Here are four things to know.
1. A group of nurses have been involved in a campaign to join National Nurses United. Some nurses rallied Monday for safe patient care and union organizing rights.
2. However, a number of Holy Cross nurses have opposed the union, holding their own protest against unionization last week, according to the report.
"We don't believe we need union representation," Sheila Vicenzi, RN, a nurse at the hospital, told InsideSources. "We think that we're treated well, the patients are treated well, that we can work with our management, and we don't have to pay a third-party."
3. National Nurses United claims the opposition group is a tactic by management that does not reflect the attitude of most nurses, according to the report.
"Currently registered nurses at the hospital do not have a say in their working conditions, do not have a say in the delivery of patient care, and do not have a say in their wages and benefits," Corey Lanham, a collective bargaining director for the union, told InsideSources. "Our goal is to change that. Our goal is to give the nurses a voice so that they can negotiate a lot of the things I just laid out."
4. Holy Cross Hospital told Becker's via email it "value[s] our one-on-one relationships among all colleagues," and "aspire[s] to protect and cultivate our strong workplace culture through direct communication and engagement." The system said that includes maintaining an ongoing and open dialogue with staff about things the hospital does well and things the hospital can improve, and "consistently working with colleagues to collaboratively address issues."
"We respect our employees' rights to explore associations with third-party organizations. However, we also have significant concerns that the involvement of any third party organization in our workplace could disrupt the open and collaborative workplace we have long worked to maintain," the hospital added.