By Don McIntosh, associate editor
In ballots tallied June 2, hospital technicians at PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center in Vancouver voted 211 to 77 to unionize.
They’ll now be members of PeaceHealth Southwest Caregivers United, a unit of Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals (OFNHP), which is itself an affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT).
Turnout was extraordinarily high: 93 percent of workers in the unit cast ballots. And the overwhelmingly pro-union margin — almost 3-to-1 — came despite an active anti-union campaign by hospital management. Union supporters report that leading up to the vote, hospital managers and executives tore union fliers down from bulletin boards, and interrogated workers — asking them if they like working there and how they planned to vote in the union election. If true, some of those tactics are illegal under federal labor law; AFT filed charges May 27 with the National Labor Relations Board detailing illegal surveillance and coercive statements and actions by PeaceHealth managers.
PeaceHealth Southwest cardiovascular technologist Danene Flower says the management offensive began after May 6, when AFT requested an election.
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People started to cry. And then they all broke out in applause, hooting and hollering. We stood up and were hugging each other. And management walked out.” — PeaceHealth union supporter Danene Flower
[/pullquote]“Most of these people I’d never seen before in my life,” Flower said. “They were wearing buttons saying ‘Give us a chance. Give us a year. Vote no.’ They had really shiny shoes and really really expensive suits. And I’m like, ‘oh, that must be management.’”
Several eyewitnesses described an emotional scene the night of the union vote. In the hospital’s education center, it was standing room only as dozens of union supporters and a handful of managers observed the vote count. Flower says when the result became known at about 8 p.m., she broke down and started sobbing.
“I was so happy,” Flower said. “Other people started to cry. And then they all broke out in applause, hooting and hollering. We stood up and were hugging each other. And management walked out.”
As PeaceHealth Labor Relations Director Scott Allan headed for the exit, OFNHP president Dawnette McCloud approached him with a written request to begin negotiating a first union contract. McCloud says Allan refused to take the letter, but three women unionists spontaneously locked arms and blocked his way out. He then tucked it under his arm and walked out.
The new bargaining unit consists of 310 specialists in 27 licensed technical classifications, including licensed practical nurses, physical and occupational therapists, and MRI, surgical, radiology, CT, ultrasound, anesthesia and pharmacy technicians.
AFT union organizer Joe Crane said he’s hopeful the momentum of the win will carry forward in a separate AFT campaign among a much larger group at the hospital — service and maintenance workers such as cleaners, food service workers, and certified nursing assistants.
Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is also campaigning to represent that group, so the two unions will likely compete as to which would be the most effective. SEIU also sought at one point to represent the hospital technicians, but formally withdrew before the June 2 election. SEIU Local 49 represents a group of 1,082 service and maintenance workers at PeaceHealth hospitals in Springfield and Eugene, Oregon. That unit ratified its first-ever union contract April 25. The contract contains health insurance improvements and across-the-board raises that total 8 percent over three years. But Local 49 says the average worker will see wages rise 21 percent in that time, because equity and catch-up raises are needed in the shift from the existing arbitrary pay system to a new seniority-based wage scale.
At PeaceHealth Southwest, the newly unionized workers will meet June 9 to discuss what they want to bargain for in their first union contract. The list is likely to include improved pay and benefits, and stronger protections for workers rights.
