As staffing shortages and extended wait times continue to hamper operations at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC), nurses are attempting to unionize.
Last weekend, pro-union fliers were distributed around DHMC, the flagship academic medical center for the Dartmouth Health system. Nurses were also invited to a pair of meetings in support of unionizing earlier this week at the Courtyard Marriott in Lebanon, according to a post by the Instagram account @dhmc_memes.
Liz Joseph, a nurse in DHMC’s Birthing Pavilion for 21 years, said the recent interest in unionizing is a product of what many nurses view as a weakening “say” for the 2,500 nurses who work at DHMC and its clinics in southern New Hampshire.
“Our patients deserve better than the care we are providing, and our nurses deserve to truly feel appreciated,” Joseph wrote in an email to the Valley News. “We are collectively coming together to have an equal seat at the table with administration, and we’re looking forward to implementing lasting improvements to patient care in a safe environment.”
“In my view, a union does not offer the best path to change,” Chief Nursing Officer Tracy Galvin wrote in an email to staff on Monday. “I say that because I’ve seen the conflict and division some nursing unions create. I’ve seen nurses pitted against each other under union contracts that reward seniority over performance, or limit the flexibility that today allows nurses to have a say in their scheduling, care model, and nursing practice.”
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, as seen from the air on Dec. 9, 2017. (Photo by Charles Hatcher, Valley News)
Galvin urged nurses to learn more about what being part of a union might mean before they sign petitions or cards authorizing a union to represent them.
On Friday, CEO Joanne Conroy weighed in with an email to her DH “colleagues.” Conroy wrote, “Personally, I believe strongly that a nurses union at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center is unnecessary and counter-productive. It can often result in an ‘us vs. them’ mentality. I believe the best environment in which to work and provide care is one built on open communication, where we work collaboratively on best practices and address challenges and barriers as they arise.”
Amid a nationwide nursing shortage, DH currently has more than 600 positions unfilled at its six hospitals and clinics, most of which are in nursing or technical support.
Extended wait times across clinics are exacerbated by bed shortages and the inability of DH to discharge people to lower levels of care, such as nursing homes. In February, DH warned patients about especially long lines in the emergency department.
While DHMC has fended off unionizing efforts over the years, nurses at other hospitals across New England have voted in support of collective bargaining.
Nurses in the University of Vermont’s hospital system have been unionized since the early 2000s. In 2022, nurses at Maine Medical Center in Portland ratified their first union contract.
Labor activity in regional peer hospitals draws the attention of non-unionized medical providers, said Deb Snell, president of the UVM Medical Center union.
It was no coincidence that DH started offering signing bonuses of more than $20,000 when UVM nurses went on strike in 2018, Snell said.
“When (DH) sees things happening here, they react,” she said on Friday. “Throw out some treats to the nurses. It’s like carrot and stick. But at some point the carrot is going to rot.”
Snell rebuffed any characterization of unions inhibiting conversation between employees and management. She and other UVM union officials have weekly meetings with the chief nursing officer, and meet every other month with the hospital president.
“Obviously the (DH) nurses there don’t feel like that dialogue is really happening,” Snell said.
“The union saying is: ‘There isn’t a union that management didn’t help create.’” — FRANCES MIZE, VALLEY NEWS
