Barton Health RNs vote to unionize

Registered Nurses (RNs) at Barton Memorial Hospital and Lake Tahoe Surgery Center voted 123 to 17 to unionize during a secret ballot taken Wednesday night according to the California Nurses Association (CNA).

After the Barton Health vote, 3,000 caregivers in 10 union elections have voted to have collective representation in California in 2017.

“A record of incredible accomplishment for CNA that will strengthen the ability of RNs to promote safer care conditions for all Californians,” said CNA Co-President Malinda Markowitz, RN, who is also an NNU vice-president.

RNs cited a desire to work for enhanced patient care staffing and standards for nurses as key reasons for affiliating with CNA.

“As patient advocates, we have voted for CNA representation in order to improve staffing and enforce state mandated nurse to patient ratios. Now, as we move to bargain a contract with Barton, this will be one of our main priorities,” said Barton RN Watson Kambenja in a CNA press release.

“As RNs, patient safety is always our top priority," Barton RN Paris Kelly added. "However, with constant turnover retaining experienced nurses has been increasingly difficult. We want to see competitive wages and benefits so that we can recruit and retain experienced RNs at Barton and improve the standard of patient care at the hospital.”

"While we strongly believe that a union will not benefit our patients, our employees or our community, we respect the nurses' right to vote," said Dr. Clint Purvance, Barton Health President and CEO, before Wednesday night's vote. "Barton highly values our nurses and the care they provide. Nurses are essential to delivering high-quality, safe care. That commitment from all Barton staff will not change regardless of the outcome of the vote."

The next step for Barton RNs is to elect a team of their colleagues to represent them in talks with hospital officials on a first collective bargaining contract.