Nurses at Austin’s Ascension Seton Medical Center overwhelmingly voted to join National Nurses United, becoming the largest unionized hospital in Texas. Nurses overcame Ascension’s anti-union campaign, voting 385 to 151 to unionize.
Ascension Healthcare is the largest Catholic hospital system in the country, operating more than 100 hospitals across 13 states. The nonprofit giant raked in $5.7 billion in net income in 2021, yet Seton nurses reported chronic staffing shortages and high turnover – issues exacerbated by restrictions on the nurses’ own ability to get appropriate medications under the company’s health plans.
While publicly touting their ethical guidelines to “respect our nurses’ right to organize”, behind the scenes the company engaged in an intense campaign to stop the nurses’ efforts including one-on-one confrontations, threats of retaliation, and high-pressure captive audience meetings that pulled nurses away from their patients in spite of ongoing short staffing.
Hospital care in Austin is dominated by two companies – Ascension, and HCA. When there are few options available for other jobs due to high concentration, nurses often must choose between staying at the bedside under poor conditions, or leaving the city, hospital care, or the profession altogether. Ascension Seton nurses are leading the way, however, on a different path. By forming a union, the Seton nurses are showing that they have the power to stand up to the hospital corporation and demand the vital improvements that patients need.
Source: https://www.texasobserver.org/austin-nurses-win-largest-hospital-union-in-texas/