MADISON (WKOW) -- UW Health nurses have not had a union since their previous contract expired in 2014. They've been trying to change that for two years and rallied Thursday across from American Family Children's Hospital in support of the effort.
"I know what life was like as a nurse at UW when we were unionized, and it was fantastic," Shari Signer, who has been a nurse at UW Hospital for 15 years, said. "UW was the place to work. It was hard to get in. Once you got in, you stayed. It was a coveted spot. It was a lifelong job."
However, she said things have changed in the past eight years.
"We have not gotten a cost of living raise since 2014, which is definitely leading to retention issues and people are leaving to go other places," she said.
Mary Jorgensen, a nurse who has worked in the inpatient OR for 17 years, said staffing issues are starting to affect the level of care patients receive.
"There have been so many people that have left the operating room that we have staff that are doing cases they're not proficient in, and it's just not the way to run a good OR at all," she said. "It's scary."
Jorgensen said the pandemic only made that tough situation worse.
"Instead of two staff people in the operating room, [treating a patient with COVID-19] takes six," she said. "it's taken much more people, and we don't have them. So, it's been pretty stressful."
In a statement, a spokesperson for UW Health said the health system can't recognize the union because of state law.
"While the law is clear that we cannot recognize a union and collectively bargain a contract, we will continue working directly with our nurses through our nursing councils to address workforce challenges and continue improving the patient care we provide," UW Health press secretary Emily Kumlien said.
The health system has said since 2014 that Act 10 prohibits recognizing the nurses union. In May, the non-partisan Wisconsin Legislative Council agreed with that assessment. However, the council published a new analysis in October that found while the health system has no duty to recognize the union, nurses can ask to be voluntarily recognized.
John Ashworth, the husband of a nurse, said he doesn't think the current situation of nurses working without a union contract is sustainable for his family.
"My wife's been a nurse for 20 plus years," he said. "She's over 50. There's only so much she can handle. … She has no rights, she has no say, and every year, that's just gotten a little worse, a little bit worse, a little bit worse."
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