(A Radio Iowa report) – UnityPoint nurses marched from the Iowa Capitol to Methodist Hospital in downtown Des Moines yesterday (Monday) to call attention to their efforts to join a union. UnityPoint nurses who work at four hospitals in the Des Moines area voted in December to join the Teamsters Union. March organizers say UnityPoint is filing baseless objections with the National Labor Relations Board.
Yvette Vangen is a nurse at UnityPoint’s Iowa Methodist Hospital. “It’s my understanding they’re spending thousands and thousands of dollars to pay lawyers to continue to delay the certification that we voted for,” she said, “so it’s just extremely frustrating.
Alex Wilkin, a critical care nurse at Methodist Hospital, has been a member of the organizing committee. “Basically, we won. They think it’s unfair,” Wilkin said. “They’re trying to delay it, and they can, because there’s loopholes that allow them to do this.”
A UnityPoint spokesperson said the objections are based on concerns about he says are serious irregularities and possible discrimination in how the election was conducted. Nearly 18-hundred registered nurses at the four UnityPoint hospital in Des Moines voted in December, but over 250 ballots have been challenged and could tip the balance in the election.
UnityPoint argues another 138 nurses should have been allowed to vote in December because they became part of the potential bargaining unit after federal officials set the election guidelines in August.
