SLU Hospital Nurses Organize Anti-Union Vote

Union nurses at Saint Louis University Hospital have forced an election that would strip the union-security clause from their current contract, which means employees would no longer be required to pay union dues.

The nurses group has gathered more than 220 signatures, setting the stage for a vote on June 15 that would, in effect, make the hospital a right-to-work site. Those signatures met a threshold of 30 percent of the 650 nurses covered by the union contract.

The hospital’s contract with the National Nurses Organizing Committee is in place through June 2016, but deauthorization would pass if at least 326 nurses, a majority of those covered by the contract, approve the measure. Under the current three-year contract, the union receives $1.4 million in dues.