Sunrise Hospital workers vote for union affiliation

Art Nadler

Wednesday, Dec. 9, 1998 | 11:06 a.m.

Health care workers at Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center have voted overwhelmingly to allow the Nevada Service Employees Union, Local 1107, to represent them in contract negotiations with hospital administrators.

About 5:30 a.m. today, ballot results showed that four of the hospital's five employee groups -- registered nurses, service workers, technicians and the business office -- voted in favor of the union. Only the professional workers, consisting of about 114 pharmacists, social workers and therapists, rejected union representation.

The largest of the five groups -- the registered nurses -- voted 591-208 to accept the union. Service workers -- consisting of housekeeping, dietary and ancillary workers along with nursing assistants -- voted 590-156 in favor. Technicians voted 200-68 for the union, and the business office-clerical workers' vote was 74-28.

Professional workers voted 65-49 against union representation.

More than 2,000 hospital employees voted during the election, which began at 12:01 a.m. Monday and ended at midnight today.

Lenore Friedlander, a SEIU spokeswoman, said she was pleased with the results and looks forward to sitting down with Sunrise Hospital administrators after Christmas to discuss workers' issues. The union had in the past raised concerns about nursing staff numbers, patient care decisions and issues involving salary and benefits.

At a post-election celebration in a tent behind the Last Frontier hotel-casino, tired hospital employees savored their victory with a mid-morning breakfast of bacon and eggs.

"It was a lot of hard work, but it paid off," Diana Rogers, a data-entry clerk, said. "I'm so happy and tired at the same time. This means we can get back to normal. There has been so much tension over the last four years."

"This means job security and better wages and benefits," housekeeping worker Josie Villarreal said. "I am excited and happy. I'm looking forward now that it's all over."

Mitch Mitchell, president and chief executive officer of Sunrise Hospital, issued a written statement at 10 a.m. saying, in part:

"Sunrise Hospital has believed for the past four years that the question of whether employees should be represented by the Nevada Service Employees Union was a question that the employees should answer themselves. The results of the secret ballot indicate that many of the staff at Sunrise have chosen to be represented by the union, while others have elected not to have the union speak for them.

"It should be understood that no employee will be granted any benefit or suffer any detriment because of his or her support or opposition to the union during the recent campaign."

Hospital officials and the SEIU reached a compromise agreement in October to conduct an election by secret ballot. The union had been attempting to organize Sunrise employees for four years.

The Nevada Service Employees Union is associated with the Service Employees International Union of the AFL-CIO. Sunrise Hospital is an affiliate of Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp. of Nashville, Tenn.

"There was a lot of negativity and pressure gone when the hospital agreed to the election," Melanie Sisson, a worker in the cardiovascular intensive-care unit, said of the eight weeks following the compromise agreement. Workers, she said, were more willing to discuss issues in an open debate.

The election was overseen by the the independent Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. Six representatives from the organization counted ballots, while a special election officer supervised the process.

SEIU currently represents workers at University Medical Center, Desert Springs Hospital, Clark County government employees and workers at the housing authorities of the cities of Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and the Clark County Health District.