ST. JOSEPH NURSES VOTE TO UNIONIZE

  

Nurses at St. Joseph Health voted this week to join the National Nurses Organizing Committee / National Nurses United (NNOC/NNU).

The organization is the nation’s largest union of registered nurses and will now represent around 750 registered nurses at St. Joseph’s hospital and critical access facilities in Bryan, College Station, Caldwell, Navasota and Madisonville.

Jessica Crouch, who works as a cardiovascular nurse in Bryan, says nurses came together with a goal of making sure their voices are heard in matters like staff recruiting and retention and advocating for patients and their safety.

Brittany Jones, who works in the NICU in College Station, says the next step for nurses, after the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) certifies the election results, will be to choose their bargaining team and prepare to negotiate their first contract.

In a statement, St. Joseph Health Communications Manager Tracy Bates said, “Based on the preliminary vote counts, St. Joseph Health's Registered Nurses have chosen union representation, pending the official certification of the NLRB. We express our gratitude to our nurses and look forward to continuing our 90-year tradition of providing compassionate, patient-centered care here in the Brazos Valley.”

St. Joseph Health is a member of CommonSpirit Health.  With the results of this election, the NNOC/NNU will represent more than 17,000 nurses at 33 CommonSpirit Health facilities nationwide.