DES MOINES, Iowa — Editor Note: UnityPoint's full statement is attached below the embed of the Teamster's release.
Nurses at UnityPoint Health hospitals in the Des Moines metro gathered with the Teamsters Local 90 union Tuesday to begin an effort to unionize.
Representatives for the nurses said that it was done to combat stagnant wages and unaffordable health insurance.
"UnityPoint hospitals generate millions in profits annually, yet nurses—the backbone of patient care—are struggling with inadequate wages and rising healthcare costs of their own," said Alano De La Rosa, Principal Officer of Teamsters Local 90. "It’s time to ensure that those profits are reinvested in the frontline workers who make this system function, rather than disproportionately benefiting top executives."
Extreme nurse-to-patient ratios were also cited.
"We’re stretched to the limit every day," said veteran and organizing nurse Jessica Golay. "This isn’t just about us—it’s about ensuring our patients get the care they deserve."
Better treatment of nurses means better treatment of patients was something many of the group echoed.
"We’re standing together because we believe UnityPoint can and must do better," another organizing nurse, Becka Ober stated. "When nurses are treated fairly, patients win, too."
The group feels they are being stretched more each day while pay stays the same, but emphasized they are more than happy to do increased work if paid fairly.
"They are adding more and more that we need to do, another piece of charting, another type of care," said critical care nurse Gail Grimes. "All this evidence comes out, and we are happy to do more for our patients, but we need the time to be able to do it, and we need the compensation appropriate for how much we're being asked to do."
UnityPoint said it respects the workers' rights in whatever the final decision will be.
Full statement by System Chief Nursing Officer Sarah Brown on behalf of UnityPoint Health:
At UnityPoint Health, we understand and deeply empathize with the frustration that some of our nurses are feeling. Their dedication to patient care does not go unnoticed. We acknowledge that recent challenges have left some of them feeling unsupported, and we take full responsibility for that. Our goal is always to create an environment where every nurse feels heard, valued, and empowered. We are committed to making meaningful changes to address their concerns and improve the experience for all of our nurses.
While we have made significant strides around investment in nursing wages, we are committed to being more transparent and proactive in the future with how we communicate compensation-related changes. We are also committed to creating a sustainable, supportive environment for our nurses – with our annual engagement survey results showing a significant increase in every single employee engagement category. When adequate staffing has been a challenge, we’ve worked to innovate in care delivery to ensure safe staffing levels and adapt to the needs of our caregivers. For example, we implemented our virtual nurse program—one of the first of its kind in the nation—and received overwhelmingly positive feedback.
Like many health systems facing constraints, we have been working on reducing our reliance on contract labor because we believe that our own team members—those who are part of our community and share our values—are best positioned to provide the consistent, compassionate care our patients deserve. We are doubling down on efforts to grow and support our nursing workforce as well as invest in professional development through the advancement of our journey towards Magnet designation across the health system, a program that puts nursing shared governance and decision-making at the center of nursing practice. Earlier this year, we also stood up our first system-wide nurse advisory council to share in decision-making about the things most important to our team members.
We are committed to working directly with our nurses to address their concerns, to learn from their feedback, and to make the changes necessary to create a better workplace. At the same time, we are immensely grateful for the many nurses who feel supported and fulfilled in their work here. Together, we will continue to build an organization that fosters a culture of respect, collaboration, and excellence in patient care—one where every nurse can feel proud of the work they do, and one that provides an exceptional experience for the patients, team members, and communities we serve.