Bell Hospital in Ishpeming is pictured. Dozens of nurses at the U.P. Health System-owned facility voted unanimously to approve the formation of a local union with the Michigan Nurses Association. The National Labor Relations Board in Milwaukee counted the votes and approved the measure on Wednesday. (Journal file photo)

By Journal Staff

ISHPEMING — Dozens of nurses at U.P. Health System-Bell will form a union with the Michigan Nurses Association.

Nursing staff from the Ishpeming facility voted 51-0 to form the union.

The ballots from the mail-in election were counted by the National Labor Relations Board at its Milwaukee offices on Wednesday.

“Now that we have formed a union, we will get to have a democratic say in our working conditions. The past few years have been difficult, but winning our union gives me hope,” said registered nurse Callie Ruohomaki. “We are ready to advocate to make improvements so that we can better recruit and retain nurses at our hospital.”

According to an MNA press release, UPHS-Bell is the fourth health care facility in the Upper Peninsula where workers have voted to unionize with the MNA since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The groups include techs and ancillary staff at UPHS-Marquette, nurses at Aspirus Keweenaw Hospital, and health care professionals at the Chippewa County Health Department.

The MNA said unionized health care workers at each of these facilities have been able to win collectively bargained first contracts that improve wages, working conditions and patient safety.

Nurses at UPHS-Bell first began to talk about forming a union a few months ago, according to the release. A supermajority of RNs publicly committed to wanting to form the union in advance of the vote.

“I am just so proud of what we have accomplished together by forming a union,” said Samantha MacIntosh, RN. “We have seen the huge difference that being united as a union has made at other health care facilities across the U.P. We’re excited to be able to make that kind of a difference here in Ishpeming as well.”

Unionized nurses at UPHS-Bell join the approximately 600 other nurses and health care professionals who are also members of the Michigan Nurses Association at UPHS-Marquette and UPHS-Portage.

The nurses expect to begin contract negotiations in the near future.

Stephanie DePetro, an RN who serves as vice president of the MNA and president of the nurses local at UPHS- Marquette, said of the vote:

“We are proud to welcome the registered nurses at UPHS-Bell to our union family. Duke LifePoint executives have quickly learned how resolved nurses and health care professionals can be when we’re advocating for our patients’ safety,” DePetro said. “We are ready to support nurses at UPHS-Bell in their fight for a fair contract.”

The MNA now represents nurses at all three UPHS hospitals.