Madison Hospital Nurses Win Major Union Election
SSM Health must now bargain with 870 registered nurses over staffing, pay, work conditions.
An ambulance passes by SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital on Thursday, May 14, 2026, in Madison, Wis. Angela Major/WPR
Hundreds of nurses at SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital in Madison voted to form a union in what the Service Employees International Union is calling “the largest private sector union election in recent Wisconsin history.”
The SEIU Wisconsin says the vote Thursday was 511-63 in favor of unionization. According to the National Labor Relations Board, 870 full- and part-time registered nurses will be included in the hospital’s bargaining unit.
Nurses who spoke to WPR about the effort last month said they hoped to improve working conditions in the hospital. They said SSM Health St. Mary’s is understaffed and the lowest-paying hospital in the Madison area.
In a statement after the vote, Amber Brown, a nurse in the St. Mary’s cardiac intermediate care unit, said the workers want to “make sure this profession we love is sustainable.”
“In order to be fully present with our patients, we need full staffing, resources, and support,” Brown stated. “With our union, nurses will be a part of the conversation and what we say will matter.”
SSM Health said in a statement that the vote was not the health system’s preferred outcome, saying it would rather continue to negotiate directly with its workers.
“Regardless, we remain committed to continuing to collaborate with our entire team to maintain a compassionate, high-quality, healing environment where we all can do our best work in living out our Mission to provide exceptional care for our patients,” the statement read.
The vote means that SSM Health will be required to negotiate a union contract with the nurses, who will begin working to determine their contract proposals and form a negotiating committee, according to SEIU Wisconsin.
“With our union, we now have a strong voice to negotiate a contract with the policies, staffing, and retention we need,” Emily Berceau, a nurse in the St. Mary’s labor and delivery department, said in a statement.
Hundreds of nurses vote to unionize at SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital in Madison was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.
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