LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Health care workers at Sunrise Hospital have voted to unionize.
According to a press release, voting took place on Thursday and Friday and 78% of the 275 professionals who work there approved the measure. They will now be represented by Service Employees International Union Local 1107, who represents workers at other valley health care facilities, including MountainView Hospital and Southern Hills Hospital & Medical Center.
"It's deeply rewarding to help patients recover from traumatic injuries and provide them a hopeful path to regain their quality of life. But for too long, my non-union coworkers and I haven't had any hope for a better future for ourselves," Kalani Kauwe, a physical therapist at Sunrise Hospital, said in a statement. "We've observed our coworkers who are in the union and seen how they've made huge advances through the collective bargaining process. We want to develop the same mutually respectful relationship with management to address problems and create positive solutions."
Channel 13 reached out to Sunrise Hospital and received the following statement.
"While we acknowledge the right of our colleagues to unionize, we are disappointed by the outcome of this labor union member vote.
No one cares for our colleagues more than we do. We continue to demonstrate our commitment to them with significant wages increases, industry-leading safety and protection protocols, aggressive recruitment and retention initiatives to stabilize staffing, training and educational benefits and much more.
We prefer a direct working relationship with our colleagues to address their concerns. We respect the federal rights of our colleagues to be a member of a labor union."
As for what comes next, Sunrise employees will be asked to fill out surveys to determine their most important priorities for contract negotiations and elect coworkers to represent them on their bargaining committee. According to a press release, the committee will sit down with Sunrise executives to negotiate their wages, benefits and working conditions in a written contract.
