From WisPolitics.com/WisBusiness.com …
— SSM Health is disputing allegations that it’s violating federal labor laws amid a unionization push by hundreds of nurses the health system employs.
SEIU Wisconsin yesterday announced 380 nurses working at SSM Health Dean Medical Group in Dane County will vote later this month on whether to unionize. Voting will be held at 10 outpatient clinics Sept. 22-25, after organizers filed the election petition with the National Labor Relations Board in early August.
The union says nurses at the Dean clinics are faced with “serious problems” related to short staffing, burnout, “unfair” compensation and unsupportive policies.
Yesterday’s announcement follows the NLRB in July overruling objections by SSM Health and certifying union election results for hundreds of nurses working at SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital. SEIU notes the nurses voted by an 89% margin to form a union, but argues SSM Health is “violating federal labor law by refusing to begin the negotiating process.”
In a statement on the union’s claims, the employer says it’s not breaking any federal labor laws.
“The NLRB process is complex, and we believe there are unresolved questions regarding the election process that warrant review by the full National Labor Relations Board,” a spokesperson wrote in an email. “That is why we have appealed the Regional Director’s decision to the full Board. We believe collective bargaining should await the outcome of our appeals.”
Meanwhile, the union is highlighting the views of nurses who say SSM Health leadership has ignored their concerns.
Kat Doebler, a nurse of nearly 25 years who works in the SSM Health Outpatient Surgery Center, said “I have never seen such an extreme focus by executives on making huge profits” while pushing nurses to rush through cases.
“The SSM executives in St. Louis don’t seem to know or care about what’s going on in our clinics locally,” Doebler said in the release. “As a result, we have dedicated, amazing nurses who regularly become exhausted and burned out and leave our clinics.”
In response, the SSM Health spokesperson said the employer respects its nurses and the key role they play in caring for patients and communities.
“SSM Health respects employees’ right to decide whether they wish to be represented by a union, and we are committed to ensuring they can make that decision freely and without pressure,” the spokesperson wrote.
But SEIU Wisconsin argues SSM Health has been “running an ongoing pressure campaign” within both the hospital and clinics, including threatening to discipline nurses for engaging with the union, spreading “misleading propaganda” and destroying or taking union materials.
See the union’s release below.
— Dem AG Josh Kaul joined 22 other states in suing the Trump administration over its push to bar the use of federal Medicaid funds to provide gender-affirming care for low-income youth and some young adults.
The lawsuit argues that Congress has given states the authority to determine which services to cover through Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program unless limited in statute.
The rule, which was finalized last month and is set to take effect in October, bars money from the programs for puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgeries to treat gender dysphoria in minors. The rule doesn’t ban the procedures, but bars the use of federal money to make them accessible.
It is the 70th action Kaul has taken against the Trump administration during the president’s second term.
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