Nurses at Ithaca’s Cayuga Medical Center are making an important choice today: whether or not to unionize with the Communications Workers of America (CWA).
It’s a decision that’s been over a decade in the making. WSKG’s Ithaca-area reporter Aurora Berry spoke with with News Director Phoebe Taylor-Vuolo about the upcoming vote.
This transcript has been edited for clarity.
*WSKG’s Newsroom is unionized with NABET-CWA, which is a part of the larger Communications Workers of America union. Also, Cayuga Medical Center is a WSKG underwriter.
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Phoebe Taylor-Vuolo: Aurora, what union activity have we seen up at Cayuga Medical Center recently?
Aurora Berry: This latest union drive started making waves in early December.
According to the Communications Workers of America, over 70 percent of nurses at Cayuga Medical Center signed their union cards. The union would represent the 350 nurses that work at the hospital, which is the only one in Tompkins County. The union says they want to focus on getting more nurses on the floor per patient, higher wages, and safe staffing levels for lunch breaks.
The union asked the hospital for voluntary recognition. That would have been one way to make things official without nurses voting on it .
PTV: But, obviously, because they're voting this week, that didn’t end up happening.
AB: Yes. So, at the time, the hospital told us that they fully respect nurses’ right to pursue a secret ballot vote following National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) rules. But they did not recognize the union voluntarily, which is how we got to where we are now.
And nurses have been getting anti-union videos sent via text blast to them through their scheduling channels, so where their extra shifts are posted when they're looking for people to pick those up. We’ve reviewed around 10 videos posted to Vimeo. They’re unlisted, so you need a link to view them.
PTV: What are these videos like?
AB: Generally I would say they could be characterized as pretty anti-union, or against the nurses at this hospital unionizing with the CWA.
Here's a clip from the end of one of those videos.
The oldest video obtained by WSKG was published on December 22, 2025. The latest was uploaded 2 days ago. It features the CEO of Centralus, Cayuga Medical Center’s parent company, Rob Lawlis, among others.
There’s also a video featuring the COO of Centralus, Ronette Wiley.
Most of the videos end with a graphic telling nurses to vote no.
PTV: What is hospital leadership saying about those videos?
AB: Melissa Tourtellotte, Vice President of Marketing and Communications for Cayuga Health told WSKG “Before the election, and in full compliance with the law, we shared information and our perspectives through videos and flyers. We also offered voluntary education sessions for leaders and for nurses who are eligible to vote.”
Tourtellotte says the hospital thinks it's important for nurses to get “truthful and balanced information to make their own decisions.”
PTV: And there have also been some labor charges brought against the hospital. Can you tell me about that?
AB: That’s right, Phoebe. The CWA says hospital management read an anti-union message during a mandatory meeting and that employees were reprimanded for speaking up in support of the union during that meeting.
The union filed charges with the NLRB, but there hasn’t been a decision made on that yet.
PTV: This isn’t the first time nurses have tried to unionize or the first time that NLRB charges have been filed, right?
AB: Yes. Previous union drives at the hospital haven’t been successful.
Actually, in 2018 the NLRB ruled that two nurses were unlawfully fired for union organizing that started all the way back in 2015.
Organizers say things seem different this time and they think they’re more likely to be successful.
There’s definitely a lot of visible support for the nurses' efforts out here in Tomkins County and Ithaca. The Tompkins County Legislature passed a supportive resolution. It was the most packed I have personally ever seen the legislature, and we're a pretty involved community.
PTV: Well I know you’ll keep covering this, Aurora. When’s that vote again?
AB: The authorization vote is January 14 and 15.
