St. Louis-based SSM Health filed a request for review with the National Labor Relations Board on Aug. 5, seeking to appeal the certification of a June 11 union election in which registered nurses at St. Mary’s Hospital in Madison, Wis., voted to join SEIU Wisconsin, according to statements from both parties shared with Becker’s.
SSM Health filed objections on June 18, which NLRB regional staff overruled July 22 before certifying the election. SSM Health said its appeal is focused on concerns about the election process that it contends were not adequately investigated before the regional staff dismissed its objections. “Federal labor law provides the opportunity to seek review of regional decisions, and we are exercising that right by asking a higher level of the NLRB to consider our appeal,” SSM Health said in the statement.
Nurses voted 511-63 in favor of unionization in the June 11 election. SEIU Wisconsin said in its statement that nurses are moving forward with determining contract priorities and called on SSM Health to drop its appeal and begin negotiations.
“St. Mary’s nurses voted by 89% to form our union, and we have a clear mandate to sit down and negotiate a contract,” Zach Zahalka, RN, said in the SEIU Wisconsin release, on behalf of St. Mary’s Nurses United of SEIU Wisconsin.
SSM Health said it greatly values its nurses and that its focus remains on supporting them and providing exceptional care for its communities.
St. Louis-based SSM Health is a Catholic nonprofit health system with more than 40,000 employees and more than 15,000 providers across Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma and Wisconsin.
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