Nurses at two Cayuga Health medical clinics have voted to unionize alongside employees at the system’s Ithaca hospital.
Cayuga Medical Center voluntarily recognized unionization at the two new medical facilities on Sunday, which means the union will not need to hold a union election overseen by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).
The 37 nurses at the hospital system’s Cancer and Surgicare centers will join the more than 300 recently unionized employees at Cayuga Medical Center. The Cayuga Health System is the second largest employer in Tompkins County.
Over 80 percent of nurses at Cayuga Medical Center voted to unionize with the Communications Workers of America earlier this month, with the union filing labor charges with the NLRB in the lead-up to the election.
“We have been inspired by our coworkers at CMC sticking together through a union busting campaign and winning their election,” hematology and oncology nurse April Mendez said in a statement announcing the clinics’ unionization. “And we are proud to win our union as well.”
In a statement, Melissa Tourtellotte, Vice President of Marketing and Communications for Cayuga Health, said the decision to voluntarily recognize the union reflects the hospital’s “respect for our nurses’ voices and our commitment to work collaboratively and in good faith, while ensuring uninterrupted care for the patients and communities we serve.”
The statement added that the hospital is focused on “partnering constructively with CWA and our nurses to negotiate a fair, balanced contract that supports our caregivers and advances our mission to empower our teams to succeed and improve the wellbeing of the communities we serve.”
