Partners HealthCare's Brigham and Women's Faulkner Hospital in Boston and 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East reached an agreement allowing for a union election at the hospital, reports The Boston Globe.
"We have developed an agreement with Brigham and Women's Faulkner Hospital that outlines a free and fair elections process and offers service workers in specific units of the hospital's workforce the opportunity to vote for or against joining our union," Tyrék Lee Sr., executive vice president of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, said in a statement.
"This agreement is another important step in our ongoing advocacy to ensure all workers — including those not yet unionized — have good jobs, fair wages and respect, dignity and a voice in the workplace," he added.
Faulkner Hospital's president, Michael Gustafson, MD, said in a memo to staff that the hospital respects the right of employees to decide whether they want to unionize, according to the report.
"However," he said, "we do not believe that having a union is in the best interests of the hospital and do not believe that employees need a union to represent them with respect to their terms and conditions of employment."
1199SEIU represents more than 56,000 healthcare workers across Massachusetts. The union said it hopes to add approximately 500 Faulkner Hospital service workers as members.
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