Endeavor Health nurses have asked the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for a Teamsters vote across four Chicago-area hospitals that could determine who represents them in bargaining.
Filed Oct. 22, the petition covers full-time, regular part-time and per diem registered nurses at Endeavor’s Evanston, Glenbrook, Highland Park and Skokie hospitals. The case record lists 2,408 employees in the proposed unit and shows the matter as open, with no election notice or date posted as of Oct. 23. Managers, supervisors, office clerical employees and nurses employed by outside agencies or registries are excluded.
An election petition must have support from at least 30% of employees in the proposed unit. The NLRB reviews whether a case meets its requirements, then works with the parties on voting arrangements. A union that wins becomes the unit’s bargaining representative, but the agency has not set a date for this vote.
The Chicago Sun-Times reported in May that nurse organizer Tricia Poreda cited hourly pay cuts of $5 to $22 and concerns about staffing and patient safety. Teamsters Local 743 has described the organizing group as more than 2,000 nurses.
Local 743 has also accused Endeavor of firing two Evanston Hospital nurses in retaliation for union activity and alleged surveillance, coercion and interrogation. Two related NLRB cases remain open and list allegations, not findings.
Separately, 1,000 nurses at Endeavor Health Edward Hospital in Naperville filed an Oct. 8 petition seeking representation by the National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United. The NLRB issued an election notice in that case Oct. 21. Endeavor said earlier this month that nurses have a right to choose representation, while arguing that a union intermediary could create challenges for patient care.
Local 743 scheduled a press conference for 11:30 a.m. ET (15:30 UTC) Friday at Endeavor’s corporate center in Evanston. The union announcement described the organizing group as more than 2,000 nurses.
