Madison, Wis. – Following two landslide elections, nurses at St. Mary’s Hospital and Dean Medical Group clinics, over 1200 health professionals, have filed expanded charges against SSM for breaking federal law by firing, threatening, and violating the rights of nurses.
Nurses say that instead of wasting resources trying to silence them, SSM should respect their overwhelming mandate to have a union voice, and immediately negotiate a contract to solve the urgent crisis of understaffing, burnout and loss of experienced nurses. Rather than intimidating them, nurses say the pressure tactics have made them more determined than ever to hold SSM accountable and raise standards for their patients and profession throughout the region.
“SSM’s scare tactics are a symptom of the broken healthcare system, and we’re building a powerful movement of nurses and our community to start fixing it, so our patients’ needs come first,” said Michelle Camilleri, who works at the SSM Health Dean Medical Group South Madison Campus. “I’ve worked in St. Mary’s Hospital and I’ve also floated through many Dean clinics, so I’ve seen how widespread the crisis is across our facilities. Very often, I was floated to a clinic and I’d be the only nurse there for up to 30 patients, sometimes without adequate orientation or training. That astronomical workload causes so much wear and tear on your body and mind, and it’s deeply unfair to the patients we serve. No matter how hard you work, you’re always running behind, and you go home worried sick wondering if there’s something you didn’t do. In addition to being overworked, we’re way underpaid, and I’ve seen many dedicated nurse coworkers leave SSM because they just couldn’t stand the conditions anymore. SSM is treating nurses and those we care for as just numbers that they can squeeze for more profits. But we are united to demand that SSM executives see us as people, and invest in staffing and retention of nurses so we can provide the care our patients deserve.”
The new charges, which were filed with the National Labor Relations Board, include terminating nurses for advocating for a union voice; compelling nurses to attend anti-union “captive audience meetings” on pain of discipline or discharge; threatening nurses with changes to terms and conditions of employment if they voted to form a union; surveilling nurses; destroying and confiscating nurses’ union information and materials; and discriminating against nurses by prohibiting the display of union informational materials and insignias while allowing the display of non-union related materials.
The recent charges follow a set of previous charges that St. Mary’s nurses filed in September, which include retaliating against multiple nurses with punitive disciplinary action; threatening nurses with discipline for activities supporting their union; and refusing to begin contract negotiations as required by federal law.
Nurses, legislators and community members say this kind of pressure campaign is especially harmful in a healthcare environment. It distracts from patient care, wastes precious resources and causes further stress for the already over-burdened nursing workforce.
SEIU Wisconsin is the state’s largest and fastest-growing healthcare union – representing over 8,000 hospital, nursing, home care and social service workers.
