(Radio Iowa) – A majority of over 400 clinical and administrative staffers at Planned Parenthood facilities in Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota and the Dakotas are taking the first step to unionize. The group has notified the National Labor Relations Board they’d like to join the Service Employees International Union. Ashley Schmidt is a Planned Parenthood training and development specialist who works in Nebraska and western Iowa.  “As we move forward into what will be a challenging a difficult time, having this union will ensure that all of our voices are heard,” Schmidt says.

The group of employees work at facilities in Iowa and the four other states in Planned Parenthood’s North Central States region. They say Planned Parenthood’s front line workers are experiencing burn out. April Clark is a registered nurse who has worked at eight Planned Parenthood Clinics around Des Moines and eastern Iowa for the past decade. She says unionizing is a way to make sure Planned Parenthood executives take care of front line workers. “To make sure that our people have fair and just wages, safe and adequate staffing ratios and equal access to benefits,” Clark says.

If the organization’s executives do not recognize the union, the National Labor Relations Board will oversee an election among Planned Parenthood workers in the five states.