The union representing nurses at St. Mary’s Hospital in Madison and Dean Medical Group outpatient clinics in Dane County has escalated charges that the two healthcare providers are violating federal labor laws after employees voted overwhelmingly for union representation.

SEIU Wisconsin filed unfair labor practice charges this week with the National Labor Relations Board against St. Mary’s and against Dean. Both organizations are part of SSM Health, a Catholic nonprofit health system based in St. Louis.

A 71% majority of nurses at Dean’s 10 clinics voted for union representation in September, three months after nurses at St. Mary’s Hospital voted for union representation with an 89% majority in June. Altogether the two groups of nurses total nearly 1,200 people.

To date, SSM has declined to bargain with the hospital nurses’ union, citing pending challenges to the June election. Earlier in September the union charged the hospital management with failing to bargain in violation of federal law.

The newest charge against the hospital alleges a nurse was fired in August in retaliation for supporting the union.

The new charges against Dean allege that the medical group discriminated against union supporters in prohibiting union-related materials from work areas and barring employees from displaying union insignia and other items supporting the union; engaged in surveillance of employees; held captive audience meetings with threats of discipline or firing for people who didn’t attend; and threatened employees with “negative changes to terms and conditions of employment” if employees voted in the union.

Those charges follow previous charges filed with the NLRB, including one against Dean in September for firing a nurse and a string of charges against St. Mary’s earlier in September, including the failure-to-bargain allegation.

“We are doing this so we can have a voice,” said Dean nurse Michelle Camilleri in a phone interview Thursday. “My colleagues and I want to provide a certain standard of care for our patients. We want to be able to care for them in a way so they can get the highest level of care as we can give.”

She said nurses who voted for unionization were responding to policies and practices that were making it “difficult to provide that standard of care” for patients and have driven some nurses to leave SSM.

“We would like to see SSM come to the table,” Camilleri said.

In a statement Thursday, SSM denied violating federal labor laws. “There has been no unlawful conduct. We respect and value all of our employees,” the statement said.

The statement called the allegations “another ongoing attempt to distract us” from the health system’s mission.

Hundreds of nurses at 10 SSM Dean Medical Group outpatient clinics in Dane County voted by 71% to form a union last week. 

The union drive of the 340 nurses at the SSM Health clinics comes just months after nurses at SSM St. Mary’s Hospital in Madison voted by 89% to start a union in June. The St. Louis-based Catholic health system has vehemently opposed the union effort from the St. Mary’s nurses, including by trying to get the National Labor Relations Board to invalidate the union election results. 

The St. Mary’s nurses have filed official charges with the NLRB over SSM administration’s refusal to begin negotiating a contract and undertaking anti-union efforts. 

Nurses at both St. Mary’s and the clinics have said they’re working to unionize to better advocate for their patients as the administration makes cuts that force the nurses to do more. The clinic nurses have also tied their effort directly to the system’s treatment of the St. Mary’s nurses.

“For too long, policies have been handed down from SSM executives in St. Louis that force nurses to do more and more with fewer and fewer resources,” said Kat Doebler, a 30-year nurse who works at the SSM Health Outpatient Surgery Center. “This intense focus of extracting corporate profits out of us has led to burnout and the loss of some of our very best nurses. It’s time for the nurses who actually take care of patients to have a seat at the table in the decisions that affect our jobs and how we provide that care. We are very disappointed that instead of respecting our freedom to form a union, SSM has been waging a campaign to violate our rights. Together with our coworkers at St. Mary’s, we’re calling on SSM to stop breaking federal law and start working with us to make sure our clinics and the hospital are the best places to work and receive care.”   

After the SSM administration fought the recognition of the union at St. Mary’s, the system said in a statement that it “respects” the decision of its clinic nurses. 

“We thank every nurse who participated in the recent National Labor Relations Board election at ten of our SSM Health Dean Medical Group outpatient centers in the Madison area,” SSM spokesperson Lisa Adams said. “While we would have preferred an outcome that allowed us to continue working directly with our nurses, we respect their decision and are committed to working constructively through the process ahead. We are grateful for the dedication of our nurses and the care they provide each day. Together, we will continue supporting our patients, serving our communities, and advancing our Mission of providing exceptional health care services to all.”

Nurses at St. Mary’s Hospital in Madison have filed official charges with the National Labor Relations Board against the hospital’s parent company, SSM Health, for allegedly violating federal law by refusing to negotiate a contract with the recently established nurses’ union. 

The hospital’s nurses voted by a landslide earlier this summer to establish a union — a result that SSM fought to prevent the NLRB from recognizing. The efforts of management to prevent the union recognition were rebuffed by federal officials. 

In a news release on Tuesday, the nurses argued that hospital administration is wasting time engaging in anti-union activities when instead negotiations on a labor contract should be getting underway. 

The nurses have complained that the hospital administration has reduced staffing to unsafe levels, putting patient safety at risk. Staffing levels at St. Mary’s are the lowest of Madison’s seven hospitals. 

“SSM should be investing in staffing, support and retention of nurses, not wasting time and resources fighting our union, which is our voice to speak up for our patients,” St. Mary’s nurse Hannah Joers said in a statement released by the union. “Our number one goal is to win a contract which better takes patients’ level of sickness into account for staffing, and makes sure that we keep nurses by the bedside. SSM executives in St. Louis are abusing our empathy, making us do more and more with less and less. We’ve had enough, and the time has come to transform the system so that our patients’ needs come first. We will never back down and we are 1,000% determined to win a strong contract to provide the highest quality patient care.”