MADISON, Wis. — The state committee assigned to review whether UW Health could recognize a union of its nurses has ruled the landmark Act 10 legislation passed a decade ago doesn’t require the healthcare provider to do so.
The Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission released its decision Friday. It comes two months after UW Health and SEIU Healthcare Wisconsin union leaders reached a deal to avert a strike and put the question before WERC.
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“WERC just completed its review and concluded that Act 10 eliminated UW Health from coverage by the Wisconsin Peace Act. In other words, it is their opinion that nurses at UW Health cannot obtain mandatory union recognition and collectively bargain a contract under Wisconsin law,” UW Health press secretary Emily Kumlien said in an email.
In a statement, three of the union’s leading nurses said they respectfully disagreed with the WERC opinion, referring again to attorney general Josh Kaul’s opinion earlier this summer that UW Health was a qualified employer under the state’s Employment Peace Act.
“Hundreds of us have already signed up to become union members and we are meeting directly with the administration to raise critical issues and create real solutions,” UW Health nurses Mary Jorgensen, Colin Gillis and Sarah Langland said.
“The opinion by the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission (WERC) does not impact our union membership or the Meet and Discuss process at UW Health.”
The nurses are referring to the agreement struck in September, when UW Health administrators in return for a promise not to strike agreed to start meeting directly with union leadership and allowing them to collect union dues, despite official recognition remaining out of reach.
Kumlien called the decision “an important first step toward obtaining definitive answers from the Wisconsin legal system on both the question WERC addressed and whether UW Health could voluntarily recognize a union and bargain collectively.”
UW Health will next petition the Wisconsin Supreme Court to issue an opinion on the case, Kumlien added.
MORE: For the Record: UW nurses describe what happened inside the negotiating room to avoid a strike
In their statement, UW Health nurses acknowledge the decision on Friday was the first in a multi-step process toward collective bargaining rights through either the courts, the National Labor Relations Board, or voluntary recognition from hospital leadership.
“UW nurses are at the forefront of a national movement of working people – Black, brown, AAPI, white, and indigenous – who are organizing across race, place, and industry for Unions For All workers, no exceptions,” the nurses said.
Investigative reporter Naomi Kowles contributed to this report.
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