Nurses At 10 Dane County SSM Clinics Move To Unionize
About 380 outpatient nurses petition the NLRB for an election, citing staffing and pay concerns.
The SSM Health Outpatient Center is seen in Madison, Wis., on March 5, 2020. Coburn Dukehart/Wisconsin Watch
Nurses at 10 outpatient clinics in Dane County are working to unionize, saying they were inspired by a similar effort at SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital in Madison.
They filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board, or NLRB, this week asking for a union election. The nurses work in outpatient clinics operated by SSM Health Dean Medical Group, a network of clinics in south central Wisconsin that is part of the SSM Health system.
According to the NLRB, the bargaining unit would include 380 nurses who work in cancer treatment, urgent care, family medicine, surgery and other services.
“The time has come for us to form our union so our voices are actually heard and we can create real change,” Krissy Butor, a nurse in outpatient surgery, said in a statement. “The main areas we need to improve are staffing, fair compensation that retains experienced nurses, and better training of our newer nurses.”
Jennifer Loney, a nurse at the Dean South Madison Campus, said nurses want “appropriate staffing levels, sufficient training, and support” in the clinics where they work.
A spokesperson for SSM Health said the health system respects its workers’ rights to choose whether to join a union.
“We greatly value our nurses and the important contributions they make every day,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “Our focus remains on supporting them and continuing to provide exceptional care for our patients and the communities we serve.”
The organizing effort comes as SSM Health is trying to challenge the National Labor Relations Board’s certification of a union vote by nurses at St. Mary’s Hospital in Madison.
Nurses at that hospital voted 511-63 to unionize in June. National Labor Relations Board staff certified the election late last month.
Nurses at 10 SSM Health outpatient clinics in Dane County working to unionize was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.
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