Social workers and interpreters employed by Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford in Palo Alto, Calif., voted to join Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West.
Seventy-nine percent of the workers voting supported unionization, according to an April 4 union news release.
The vote covers about 140 social workers and workers in interpreter services at the facility. It applies to various job classes, including social work clinicians/MSWs, licensed clinical social workers, mental health clinicians, social worker resource coordinators, medical interpreter/translators, ASL interpreters, and office assistants.
"After 31 years at Stanford Medicine Children's Health, we need Stanford to return to a culture where experience is valued, professional growth is encouraged, and careers are built," Karen Jensen, a social worker at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, said in the union release. "When workers thrive, patient care improves, and the hospital lives up to its mission."
Stanford Medicine Children's Health acknowledged the most recent vote while noting that it must next be certified by the National Labor Relations Board.
"Once the vote is certified and SEIU notifies us of its interest in meeting to begin the collective bargaining process, we will work with them on a contract that supports our employees and prioritizes safe, quality care for our patients and their families," the organization said in a statement shared with Becker's.
The vote comes after members of SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West at Stanford Medical Center and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital reached an agreement in December including 15 percent wage increases over three years.