Workers at Providence’s Healdsburg Hospital in California have voted to join the National Union of Healthcare Workers.
The vote covers nearly 200 workers at the 43-bed hospital, including registered nurses, nursing assistants, respiratory therapists, housekeepers and medical technicians, according to a union news release shared with Becker’s.
Of 193 eligible voters, 104 voted for unionization March 25 and 27 voted against it, results from the National Labor Relations Board show.
The NUHW now represents workers at all six Providence hospitals in Northern California.
“We’re excited to join our fellow NUHW members at the bargaining table and work together on a contract that secures market-rate pay, improves patient care and safeguards medical care in our community,” Debra Lehnhard, RN, said in the union release. “As the only nonunion hospital in the region, we have a lot of catching up to do when it comes to our wages and retirement benefits.”
Providence shared the following statement with Becker’s:
“Healdsburg Hospital believes our caregivers are essential to providing top-notch, compassionate care for the patients and families relying on us. We also respect the caregivers’ choice to unionize. With a longstanding history of collaborating with unions chosen by caregivers, we are dedicated to negotiating the terms of the first contract in good faith.”
Providence is a 51-hospital system based in Renton, Wash. Its hospitals in Northern California are Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, Petaluma Valley Hospital and Healdsburg Hospital in Sonoma County; Queen of the Valley Hospital in Napa; and Redwood Memorial Hospital and St. Joseph Eureka in Humboldt County. Providence also operates home health and hospice agencies in Northern California.
