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Over 400 nurses and other health care staff at Planned Parenthood’s largest affiliated health care network voted to form a union and join Service Employees International Union Local 521, the union said Wednesday.
The union drive came in reaction to cuts to Planned Parenthood by the administration of President Donald Trump last year, some of which could be extended, according to Planned Parenthood. Those cuts involved withholding Medicaid reimbursements and federal grants.
San Jose-based Planned Parenthood Mar Monte operates 30 health care clinics in California and Nevada that serve over 320,000 patients a year, according to the organization, which did not respond to a request for comment on the union vote Wednesday.
The affiliate operates eight clinics in the Bay Area, including one in Redwood City and another in Mountain View, according to the organization’s website.
The union will be called Planned Parenthood Mar Monte Workers United (PPMMWU), the union said in a statement Wednesday, a day after the vote that began on May 11 concluded with a supermajority voting in favor, according to a statement from SEIU Local 521.
Staff said the union drive was necessary because the federal cuts created uncertainty around staffing levels, pay and workplace conditions that they said unionizing could help them secure. They cited other Planned Parenthood locations that successfully won workplace guarantees after forming unions.
“Securing our union secures decisions about our work like staffing, resources, and ensuring a sustainable level of care our patients depend on,” said Ryah Issa, a health services specialist at Planned Parenthood Mar Monte’s San Jose clinic.
“While courts and politicians continue to police our work, our union gives us the power to defend clinical integrity and guarantees our patients receive the comprehensive care we all deserve. Many workers are patients in our clinics, too,” Issa said in a statement.
A spokesperson for SEIU Local 521, Ian Newman, said that Planned Parenthood Mar Monte had recognized the union’s formation.
Planned Parenthood offers health care services including wellness exams, cancer screenings, sexually transmitted infection (STI) tests and treatment, and birth control and other essential care, according to Planned Parenthood’s lobbying arm, Planned Parenthood Action, which said the Trump administration is trying to make the funding cuts permanent.
Many of those services rely on reimbursements from the Medicaid system and would not be available otherwise, according to Planned Parenthood.
A lawsuit forced the release of over $68 million in federal Title X grants in December that were awarded by Congress as part of a federal law passed in 1944, the Public Health Service Act. The funds had been withheld earlier in the year.
Planned Parenthood Mar Monte CEO Stacy Cross said in the organization’s seasonal newsletter this past winter that the cuts had caused “the most difficult year our organization has ever faced.”
She said the organization would continue to fight the attempt to withhold Medicaid payments from Planned Parenthood.
Riko Mendez, SEIU Local 521’s CEO, celebrated the vote in a statement welcoming the health care workers to the union, which represents over 72,000 employees in various fields in the Bay Area and Central Valley and on the Central Coast.
“These courageous frontline healthcare advocates – primarily women and people of color – have sent a powerful message about dignity, equity, and having a real voice at work and to organize in service of patients and community,” Mendez said. “We recognize Planned Parenthood Mar Monte’s executive leadership for respecting workers’ rights and maintaining a fair, non-interfering election process. Together, we look forward to building workplaces that strengthen workers, protect patients, and support the communities they serve.”
Staff represented by the new union include clinicians, nurses, and health service specialists.
SEIU Local 521 said that the union’s bargaining power would not just help them secure better pay and working conditions but would also help protect access to reproductive health care for patients.
This story was written by Thomas Hughes for Bay City News Service.
