Efforts to unionize nurses have stalled at Indiana University Health, a 17-hospital system based in Indianapolis, according to an Indianapolis Business Journal report.
The United Steelworkers union, which is trying to organize nurses at IU Health's downtown Indianapolis hospitals, expected to hold an election months ago. However, a projected date for a vote still has not been set.
The union continues to work on gaining support among the more than 3,900 nurses at IU Health's Methodist, University and Riley hospitals, all in Indianapolis, according to the Indianapolis Business Journal. Nurses who support the union have complained about low staffing levels as well as a controversial attendance policy they said hindered raises if they had three unscheduled sick days a year, the report notes.
Union representatives said in the report unionization efforts have slowed due to the "chilling effect" of IU Health's firing one nurse involved in the organizing, and disciplining a second.
IU Health has since dropped the discipline of nurse Heather Bragg and agreed to pay lost wages and benefits to the fired nurse, Lacie Little. The union said the actions have made it harder to get nurses to sign authorization cards to indicate they want union representation, according to the report.
The United Steelworkers do not have an estimated date for a vote. Union officials originally expected to hold an election in late April or May of this year and later estimated a vote would occur in July, according to the report. The union wants two-thirds of nurses to sign cards before it will feel confident it can get a majority of votes in an election.
In the meantime, IU Health is not supporting unionization of its nurses. "IU Health believes that a union is not in the best interest of our nurses or patients, and desires to remain a non-union work environment," IU Health spokeswoman Lauren Cislak wrote in an email to the Indianapolis Business Journal.
IU Health has made several moves that, if not a response to the union's grievances, have been designed to boost morale, according to the report. For instance, IU Health revised its attendance policy and gave a $2-per-hour raise to nurses with two years' experience.
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