Rush Medical Center nurses petition to form union

Wearing bright red shirts and scrubs, a crowd of Rush University Medical Center nurses gathered Thursday in the heart of Chicago’s medical district to declare their efforts to form a union.

“We are the nurses,” they chanted as motorists drove by and honked in support. “Fighting for our patients, fighting for our community.”

The nurses, who would be represented by National Nurses United, filed a petition Wednesday to hold a union election, one of the first steps to formally form a union and bargain for a contract. They held a rally outside Rush Medical Center on the Near West Side Thursday, joined by other area nurses, labor leaders and local politicians urging the hospital to cooperate with a speedy election.

“Long live the union,” Don Villar, of the Chicago Federation of Labor, said in Tagalog to the crowd. He shared how Rush nurses helped his late wife when she was treated there for cancer.

In a statement, Rush said it was aware of the petition and would discuss it with the nursing team over the next “several weeks.”

“At Rush, one of our greatest strengths is the way nurses, leaders and care teams work together as colleagues — raising concerns, addressing challenges and making improvements — directly and transparently. The most successful models for the delivery of health care empower individuals to raise issues in real time and to have them addressed at the department level,” the statement read.

Rush and the union did not specify how many nurses would be eligible to vote for a union but the National Labor Relations Board stated the number was 1,700, and information indicated the unit would include full-time, part-time and per diem registered nurses. A date for the election has not been set.

If the nurses are successful, they will join more than 6,500 unionized nurses in Chicago area hospitals already represented by the National Nurses Organizing Committee, an affiliate of National Nurses United. Other nurses work at Cook County Health, the University of Chicago Medicine and the Jesse Brown Veterans Administration Medical Center.

Kira Pilatejean, a Rush nurse and union unit leader, said she was excited to be part of a wave of unionization taking place among nurses across the country in places like California, Michigan and Iowa. She said a union would help prevent burnout.

“This is just protections for us, for our patients to make sure that we stay because I think everybody here loves their job,” Pilatejean said. “We want to stay at our job, and that’s our goal.”

Many nurses at Thursday's rally stressed that their efforts are tied to patient safety, saying they need to be involved in conversations around staffing ratios and retention.

Keeley Binion, who has worked at Rush for 40 years, said the union was important not just for current nurses but for those who will one day work at the hospital. Speaking to the crowd, Binion urged Rush management to partner with them.

“They need to recognize and respect our rights and patient’s rights and let us have a seat at the table. Let me correct that — we will demand a seat at the table,” Binion said as the crowd cheered.