Election Date Set for Nurses’ Union at Inspira/Woodbury

Health Professionals and Allied Employees/AFT/AFL-CIO
110 Kindkerkamack Road
Emerson, NJ 07630
201-262-5005
www.hpae.org

For Immediate Release – September 4, 2014

Nurses working at Underwood Hospital, part of the Inspira Health Network, will have their chance to vote in a union election on October 1, a little more than one month after 75% of the 420 Registered Nurses signed a petition seeking to join the Health Professionals and Allied Employees (HPAE), NJ’s largest healthcare union. HPAE made the announcement today after an agreement reached with hospital management and the National Labor Relations Board.

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the federal agency that oversees enforcement of labor law and union elections will monitor the election and certify the results.

Nurses at Inspira Hospitals in Vineland, Elmer and Bridgeton joined HPAE in 2006, and since the merger with Underwood Hospital in 2012, interest in unionization has grown among the Underwood Hospital nurses.

“I am thrilled that we have an election date to vote to have a say in working conditions to improve patient care at the hospital. I look forward to standing with other nurses to vote yes for better patient care on October 1” said Janet Cornacchia, an RN who has worked for the hospital for 7 years.

The nurses have garnered public support already in their unionization drive, with statements of support coming from NJ State Senators Don Norcross and Steve Sweeney, as well as local freeholders.

“Nurses have the right to vote in a fair election, without intimidation or pressure from hospital management,” said Ann Twomey, president of the 12,000 HPAE. “We call on Inspira to announce their intention to honor the nurses’ right to vote and to refrain from running an anti-union campaign.”

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HPAE, founded 40 years ago, also represents nurses at Cooper University Hospital in Camden, Virtua Memorial Hospital in Mount Holly, as well as the rest of the Inspira Health Network.