BELLEVILLE, NJ — More than 500 registered nurses at Clara Maass Medical Center in Belleville voted to unite in 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East. In a mail-ballot election, nearly 8 in 10 nurses voted in favor of unionization, joining a growing movement of front-line caregivers organizing to improve patient care and working conditions, according to an Aug. 10 press release from 1199SEIU.
According to the union, after being hailed as “health care heroes” during the pandemic, nurses saw management ignore their concerns about unsafe staffing and working conditions.
“I became a nurse because I love taking care of people. I love what I do, and it was getting hard to love what I do, especially when working conditions were so horrible during the COVID pandemic. Winning our union, we now have a say in how we’re treated and how our patients are treated. United together, we will fight for the staffing, pay and retirement security we deserve in our first contract,” said Tanya Howard, a nurse at Clara Maass Medical Center.
Clara Maass nurse Silvia Guimaraes said, “We came together to form our union to improve staffing and nurse and patient safety by having a voice in our working conditions. Now that we’ve won, we can fight for a contract that secures safe nurse-patient ratios, supports us in protecting our licenses, and guarantees fair pay and a secure retirement. It is going to take all of us standing together and supporting each other through negotiations to win the contract we deserve.”
Clara Maass nurses vote overwhelmingly to join health care union added by Editor on
View all posts by Editor →