St. Louis-based SSM Health is seeking to overturn a union election in which registered nurses at St. Mary’s Hospital in Madison, Wis., voted June 11 to join SEIU Wisconsin.
The health system filed objections to the election June 18, according to the National Labor Relations Board case docket.
According to the filing, SSM Health contends the NLRB should have determined whether charge nurses were supervisors before the election, arguing they should not have been allowed to campaign, vote or be present in the voting area while their status remained unresolved. The filing also alleges improper electioneering by union supporters.
The vote was 511-63 in favor of unionization, according to the NLRB. The election covered 853 eligible registered nurses, with 83 challenged ballots. The NLRB determined those challenged ballots were not enough to affect the outcome.
The NLRB may dismiss the objections or order a hearing before deciding whether to certify the election results.
In a statement shared with Becker’s, SEIU Wisconsin urged SSM Health to withdraw its objections and begin contract negotiations. “We have a clear mandate to sit down with SSM and work collaboratively with them on real solutions to the extreme crisis of understaffing, turnover and burnout in our hospital,” Lynette Willsey-Schmidt, RN, a labor and delivery nurse at St. Mary’s Hospital, said.
Becker’s has reached out to SSM Health for comment and will update this story if more information becomes available.
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