Registered nurses at Endeavor Health Edward Hospital are taking the first steps toward trying to form a union, saying they’re standing up for patients and the nurses who care for them.
Roughly 1,000 registered nurses, known as RNs, at the hospital in Naperville petitioned the National Labor Relations Board on Oct. 8, seeking a date for a union election. The nurses are aiming to join the National Nurses Organizing Committee, an affiliate of National Nurses United, which describes itself as “the largest and fastest-growing union and professional association of registered nurses in the nation with more than 225,000 RNs nationwide.”
Why nurses want union backing
The nurses’ reasons for seeking to unionize center on staffing, safety and patient care concerns, plus the desire for the additional support a union can provide, said Eunice Torres of Downers Grove, an RN in the emergency department at Edward.
“We have a lot of problems keeping and retaining staff,” said Torres, who has worked at Edward for three of the seven years she’s been a nurse. “Having a union to support us in maintaining safe staffing and being able to provide the care that we would love to is very important to us.”
A spokeswoman for National Nurses United said the National Labor Relations Board and Endeavor Health are now in negotiations to set a date for the eligible RNs at Edward to vote on the idea of possible unionization.
Hospital’s response to unionization effort
In a statement, the Endeavor Health system — which announced this week it is merging with Rush University Health System — said “the shared voice of clinical nurses to drive improvements in the quality and safety of patient care and the environments in which they practice” remains an important element of the care Endeavor hospitals provide.
“Endeavor Health respects the federally-protected rights of our nurses to make an informed choice about union representation. We also recognize the challenges in providing safe, seamless patient care when a union acts as the intermediary between our nurses and the hospital leadership,” Endeavor Health said in a written statement. “The exceptional care that we deliver to our communities has been the result of our ability to work together to navigate the complex challenges of our industry, and we continue to believe that direct conversations between our nurses and leadership are the best way to do so.”
Union to help ‘care for our nurses’
Nurses like Torres, however, feel that having union representation during negotiations could help her co-workers assert their voice and solve staffing issues and other concerns.
“We have enough staff to care for the patients, but we don’t have enough staff to be able to take our breaks — and we work 12-hour shifts,” Torres said. “That’s an important thing that we are able to care for our nurses, so that we can care for our patients.”
The quest for union representation is about having a voice, said Amy Alaimo-Kruse, an RN in the women and children’s float pool at Edward, in a news release from National Nurses United.
“We are very proud to file our petition to hold a union election to join National Nurses Organizing Committee,” Alaimo-Kruse said. “We want to have a voice in patient care and be strong advocates for our patients and ourselves.”
Union efforts to continue alongside Endeavor merger with Rush
Torres said she feels the timing of her fellow nurses’ attempts to unionize and the upcoming merger with the Rush system are not a coincidence.
“It will not have an effect on all the hard work that we nurses have been doing to unionize,” Torres said about the merger. “It definitely strengthens our belief that we are doing the right thing in wanting to prevent any future merges from affecting us.”
The Endeavor system, however, said communicating directly with nurses — without a union as a go-between — “enhances our nurses’ ability to work together directly and collaboratively with their leaders and care teams to achieve nursing excellence in service to our patients and communities.”
“Nurses are at the heart of our organization,” the system’s statement said, “and our commitment to being a best place for nurses to work and do what they do best remains steadfast.”
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