St. Joe’s nurses agree to join union

Nurses at the region’s largest hospital won the right in a vote Thursday to be part of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

Of 201 ballots cast at St. Joseph Regional Medical Center, 157 were yes votes and 44 were no, said Taj Wilkerson, business representative for Teamsters Local No. 690 in Spokane.

“They didn’t feel they had a voice,” said Val Holstrom, secretary/treasurer and principal officer for Teamsters Local No. 690.

“They wanted to be sure they continued to provide the highest quality of care for their family, friends and neighbors,” he said.

The staff at St. Joe’s remains focused on making the community healthier, hospital spokeswoman Christina Metcalf said in an email.

“The ... nurses had an opportunity to vote on the question of union representation,” she said. “We respect that decision.”

The votes were totaled in a conference room at the hospital, with more than 50 people gathering outside a south entrance just before the 7 p.m. count.

Hospital and union officials monitored the tally, which took about 30 minutes. They were the only ones allowed in the room other than the nurses who voted.

Spouses and children waited in a different room down the hall, many wearing T-shirts that said, “Nurses Rights. Right Time. Right Place. Right Union.”

The room erupted in applause after more than one supporter received the results through texts before it was officially announced. Afterwards, nurses greeted their family members with hugs.

The next step is for the nurses to negotiate a contract, but no date has been set for those talks to start.

The vote comes nearly two years after St. Louis-based Ascension Health sold the hospital to what is now LifePoint Health, making the hospital a for-profit business for the first time in its more than 100-year history.

Ascension is the largest nonprofit health care system in the United States and the biggest Catholic medical care organization in the world. LifePoint is a part of the multibillion dollar investment firm, Apollo Global Management.

Within six months of the change in ownership, the hospital cut 62 positions from the staff of 956 employees.

Williams may be contacted at ewilliam@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2261.