Rush nurses file to unionize

About 1,700 registered nurses at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago filed for a union election on April 8 with the National Labor Relations Board. (nlrb.gov) The federal case lists the proposed bargaining unit as full-time, part-time, and per diem registered nurses at Rush’s acute-care hospital on West Congress Parkway and West Harrison Street. Advanced practice nurses, managers, and agency nurses are excluded. (nlrb.gov) The nurses are organizing with National Nurses Organizing Committee, an affiliate of National Nurses United, and held a rally outside the hospital on April 9 after filing. Union organizers said the drive centers on staffing, retention, burnout, pay, and patient care. (nationalnursesunited.org) (news.wttw.com) Rush said it was aware of the petition and would discuss it with its nursing staff in the coming weeks. A union election date had not been set as of April 9. (chicago.suntimes.com) (nationaltoday.com) If the effort succeeds, Rush would become one of the largest Chicago hospitals with a unionized nursing staff. The Sun-Times reported the nurses would join more than 6,500 area nurses already represented by National Nurses United. (chicago.suntimes.com) The filing lands in a city where hospital labor fights have already produced contracts for other Rush workers. In January, Teamsters Local 743 said about 1,200 Rush employees ratified a deal with wage increases, higher retirement matches, improved shift differentials, retroactive pay, and expanded leave. (teamster.org) Rush publicly advertises medical, dental, vision, wellness, and retirement benefits for eligible employees, and says benefits for workers in a collective bargaining unit are set by contract. That means nurses who win an election would still need to bargain a first contract before any pay or benefit changes take effect. (rush.edu) (nlrb.gov) The next step is a vote supervised by the National Labor Relations Board, which still lists the case as open. For now, the filing turns Rush’s nurse staffing and retention dispute into a formal union campaign with a federal docket number. (nlrb.gov)