2,000 Des Moines area UnityPoint nurses to vote on unionization this month

DES MOINES, Iowa ( IOWA CAPITAL DISPATCH ) - About 2,000 nurses in four Des Moines area UnityPoint Health campuses will vote early this month on whether to unionize their ranks for what leaders of the movement say will bring more bargaining power for salaries, benefits and working conditions through a proposed affiliation with the Teamsters Union.

Nurses are expected to vote Dec. 7 to 9 on unionization at four UnityPoint locations — Iowa Methodist Medical Center, Blank Children’s Hospital, Methodist West Hospital and Iowa Lutheran Hospital.

An affirmative vote would be a groundbreaking one in Iowa health care — and the union movement — as the Teamsters would represent nurses in non-profit hospitals, with the potential for organizing other health-care workers across a span of UnityP