Union election receives OK at hospital

Art Nadler

Tuesday, Oct. 6, 1998 | 11:16 a.m.

After nearly four years of calling names, slamming fists and organizing picket lines, representatives from Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center and the Nevada Service Employees Union have decided to offer each other an olive branch.

Sunrise Hospital, 3186 S. Maryland Parkway, an affiliate of Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp. of Nashville, Tenn., will allow the union to conduct an election Dec. 7-8 to see whether hospital employees want union representation.

The union, associated with the Service Employees International Union of the AFL-CIO, has dropped its demand to have hospital employees use "card checks" to approve or reject its representation.

The agreement was reached Thursday and announced Monday.

With card checks, employees would have been given an opportunity to sign cards indicating that they wanted the union to represent them. A third party would have then validated the signatures.

The hospital rejected card checks in favor of allowing employees to conduct elections.

SEIU originally opposed elections because it feared managers at Sunrise would harass employees who signed cards.

In this compromise, hospital officials agreed to allow a secret ballot and until the election, no officer, manager or supervisor will express opinions on the election.

In a written statement, Sunrise Hospital also agreed that it will "fully support" the employees' choice.

"I think this agreement will be a benefit to the Las Vegas community," said Jerald Mitchell, president and chief executive officer of Sunrise Hospital. "What hospital management has stated in the past is that a union was not needed. We will support their (the employees) choice if they want a union."

More than 2,600 employees -- registered nurses, other medical professionals (except physicians), technicians, maintenance workers and business-office clerks along with nonprofessional employees -- will be allowed to cast ballots.

Sunrise Hospital has agreed to provide lists of employees and to allow the union to enter the building freely and talk to workers. SEIU will have access to all hospital floors, the cafeteria and employee bulletin boards.

"I am so excited," said Jerri Woolston, a nurse in an intensive-care unit. "We will also have an independent arbitrator to oversee the election process."

Though union representatives say they will wait until after employee surveys are conducted to approach management with demands, Woolston said her own goal is to improve the ratio of nurses to patients. The union has, in the past, accused management of understaffing floors.

"We have reached a positive compromise," said Lenore Friedlander, an SEIU organizer. "Silence and neutrality (during the lobbying process) by the company is what we really wanted."

Sunrise Hospital management also has agreed to abide by binding arbitration on future employee concerns if the union is accepted.

SEIU also has agreed not to attempt to organize Sunrise Hospital employees for three years if employees choose not to be represented. It also has agreed to stop all negative campaigning against the hospital.

"I'm optimistic that the process will operate as planned," said Dr. Frank Nemec, chief of staff at Sunrise Hospital. "We are looking forward to the end of negative campaigns. We (the physicians) really want to work together with the nursing staff and the hospital."