The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled on June 27 that Madison, Wis.-based UW Health is not legally required to engage in collective bargaining with its nurses, upholding November 2022 decisions from the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission.
In a June 27 statement shared with Becker’s, a spokesperson for UW Health said the system “appreciates the court’s deliberate, diligent and final review.”
The court’s ruling settled a legal question raised in 2022 after the Service Employees International Union and UW Health together petitioned the commission to determine whether the health system was a covered employer under Wisconsin law. It ruled UW Health was not and removed it from coverage and abrogated its collective bargaining requirement.
The ruling comes after UW Health nurses represented by SEIU Wisconsin issued more than 100 forms of patient safety concerns to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services in November 2023 in an effort to make staffing changes at the health system. However, CMS reviewed DHS’ final report and found the complaint invalid and did not issue citations.
Becker’s has reached out to SEIU Wisconsin for comment and will update this story should more information become available.
