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Nurses at UnityPoint Health Des Moines hospitals call for union recognition • Iowa Capital Dispatch [1]
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Date: 2025-08-20
Nurses working at UnityPoint hospitals in Des Moines submitted a request Wednesday for voluntary recognition of a union, calling for the health care system to provide safer work space, better wages, and adequate staffing.
A group of UnityPoint nurses, supporters and Democratic candidates gathered near the entrance of the UnityPoint Health complex in Des Moines, calling for the hospital network to voluntarily recognize the union and begin negotiations as soon as possible. Alex Wilken, a critical care nurse, told the crowd he and two other nurses had returned from delivering a letter to UnityPoint executives requesting voluntary recognition through a card check agreement.
The proposed “United Nurses of Iowa” union would be comprised of nurses who work at Iowa Methodist Medical Center, Blank Children’s Hospital, Methodist West Hospital and Iowa Lutheran Hospital, four UnityPoint hospitals in the Des Moines metropolitan area. The union, which is organizing through Teamsters Local 90, would represent about 2,000 nurses at the bargaining table.
At the Wednesday event, several nurses said union representation was needed because UnityPoint leaders are not addressing their needs as workers. Nurses called for higher wages and benefits to be competitive with other states and retain their workforce, and for UnityPoint to hire more nurses to deal with staff shortages that could put patients in danger. Several also said UnityPoint is not meeting nurses’ safety needs as they face dangerous situations while working with patients and visitors.
Sammi Ladd, a critical care unit nurse at the Iowa Methodist Medical Center, said a union was needed because “we are quite literally fighting for our lives.”
She said she was assaulted by a critically ill patient in the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit two months ago that left her with bruises and has faced numerous instances of violence, including having remotes and lights thrown at her while she was 32 weeks pregnant. Another emergency room nurse, Ladd said, was recently stabbed by a patient. The nurse “did everything in her power to avoid harm, but because her concerns were either ignored or downplayed, she will have to carry that physical, mental and emotional trauma with her for the rest of her life.”
“UnityPoint is aware of these incidents, and instead of finding ways to keep us safe, we are being forced to work short-staffed, while simultaneously caring for sicker and sicker patients,” Ladd said. “Instead of hiring more nurses to help us, UnityPoint is paying $450 an hour to outside consultants that are trying to convince nurses to fight against these unions.”
UnityPoint CCU nurse Gail Grimes said as nurses have expressed their frustrations to UnityPoint and moved toward unionization, the health care company has hired outside consultants, like Crossroads Group Labor Relation and C Hunt Management Consulting, to work to persuade individual nurses to oppose a union. Leaders at UnityPoint have also held listening and dialogue sessions with nurses, Grimes said, which have not resulted in the changes workers say are needed.
“They come in and tell us things that they would like to improve, but they’re almost certainly never the things that we’re asking for,” Grimes said. “We’re asking to have metal detectors put in at the entrances instead, they’re like, ‘We bought you 150 new chairs.’ It’s kind of like, well, that’s not going to keep us in a weapon-free environment. So just a lot of our requests falling on deaf ears.”
While the letter was intended to be delivered to Scott Kizer, the CEO of UnityPoint, Wilken said Kizer was not present, and the letter was given to Jon Rozenfeld, market president of UnityPoint Health Des Moines. Wilken said Rozenfeld directly told them he would not recognize the union — meaning the nurses plan to file for an election.
UnityPoint did not respond to a request for comment.
Grimes said the union will be filing for an official vote with a National Labor Relations Board. Calling an election requires 30% of the employees in the bargaining group have to signed an interest card, which she said the nurses union has surpassed.
Several Democrats running for the U.S. Senate and House came to the event to show support for the union, including Iowa Sen. Zach Wahls, D-Coralville and former Knoxville Chamber of Commerce director Nathan Sage, both running for Senate, as well as former Iowa House Minority Leader Jennifer Konfrst, who is running in Iowa’s 3rd Congressional District.
Konfrst said she believed union protections are necessary to keep nurses safe, saying Lorena Schulte, an Anamosa State Penitentiary nurse who was killed in 2021 by two inmates, “would still be alive today if she had had strong union protections when she was at Anamosa and she was caring for patients.”
“These people don’t deserve that,” Konfrst said. “They deserve better. Let me tell you this right now: This is what democracy looks like. Don’t wait for that to give it to you. Take it from them. That’s what it takes. They’re not going to voluntarily give up their money unless it’s to a union-busting firm.”
Wahls was endorsed by Teamsters Local 90, the union representing the UnityPoint nurses. On Monday, he was endorsed by Ironworkers Local 89, a Cedar Rapids union.
Wahls, who is running for the seat currently held by U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, said supporting labor is a key component of his campaign. He said his track record as a state legislator shows his support for organized labor, and that if elected to serve in Washington, he would vote in support of the PRO (Protecting the Right to Organize) Act, a bill that would expand some workers’ rights to unionization and bargaining. Passing this bill would strengthen the ability of workers like the UnityPoint nurses to have their contracts approved faster and create penalties for employers that engage in illegal retaliatory practices related to organizing, he said.
“We know that we have a broken economy that’s working great for the people at the very top, but not for the rest of us,” Wahls said. “One of the best ways that you can level the playing field is by joining a union and being able to bargain collectively, prepare contract better wages, better workplace protections and better benefits. … It is so important that workers have democracy in the workplace the same way that we have democracy in our politics — that’s what this is all about.”
Sage also said he supports the PRO Act and would work to support workers and unions if elected to the Senate.
“I think at the end of the day, it’s working alongside labor unions to give them more negotiating powers,” Sage said. “… The PRO Act obviously needs to be passed to give labor unions the strength they need to be able to work for the workers that they represent.”
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