Memorial Health Care Nurses Vote For Union Representation
By Massachusetts Nurses Association Memorial Nurses were the last major nonunion group of nurse in Worcester to organize with the MNA

Last night, registered nurses of UMass./Memorial Health Care who work at the Memorial Hospital Campus, Hahnemann Campus and the Home Health and Hospice Campus in Worcester voted 567 to 92 in favor of union representation by the Massachusetts Nurses Association. The National Labor Relations Board supervised the secret ballot election, with voting conducted at all three campuses and the final tally tabulated at 9 p.m.

With the successful vote to organize a union, the 811 Memorial nurses were the last group of nurses in the city to organize with the Massachusetts Nurses Association. The MNA already represents nurses at the UMass Medical Center campus of UMass/Memorial Health Care, at St. Vincent Hospital/Worcester Medical Center, the Worcester Public Health Nurses and nurses at Worcester State Hospital.

"With this vote, Worcester has become a true strong-hold of MNA power and nurse activism," said Karen Higgins, chair of the MNA Cabinet for Labor Relations, the body that oversees all 85 of the MNA's unionized health care facilities. "Nearly every nurse in Greater Worcester is part of the MNA family. This election provides a tremendous opportunity for nurses in this region to fight for improved working conditions and safe staffing, not only for nurses, but more importantly, for the patients who seek care here."

"I'm so pleased, not only that we won the election, but that the margin of victory was so large. This is our union and it is a real positive step for nursing within the Memorial system," said Jacqueline Brosnihan, RN, an operating room nurse and a member of the union organizing committee. "We voted for this union to give us the power to address our concerns about issues such as understaffing and mandatory overtime. Nurses also want and deserve parity in salary, benefits and working conditions with our colleagues in the Worcester area, including our colleagues on the UMass Medical Center Campus."

Over the last three months, more than 70 % of the 811 registered nurses who work at these facilities signed union authorization cards seeking union representation by the Massachusetts Nurses Association. The nurses had originally sought voluntary "card-check" recognition of their union, but the hospital preferred to go through the traditional NLRB election process. In late May, both sides met and negotiated a compromise resulting in an expedited election process. All RNs at the three campuses were eligible for union, including all full and part-time nurses, as well as nurses working per diem.

The Memorial organizing victory represents the seventh successful organizing drive conducted by the MNA in the last four years. With the election, the MNA will now represent more than 18,000 unionized nurses in 86 health care facilities in the Commonwealth. The MNA continues to receive inquiries from nurses in all corners of the state, as well as from across the Massachusetts border, from hospitals in Connecticut and New Hampshire, who are interested in pursuing a union organizing drive.

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