KRCB news radio has the scoop on this one! The station reported Friday that the 200 or so staff members at our 43-bed Healdsburg Hospital just voted to join the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW). Healdsburg Hospital was purchased in 2021 by the Providence Medical Group, which also runs five other hospitals across NorCal, including one in Santa Rosa and one in Petaluma — and now, thanks to this latest vote, the NUHW union “represents workers at every Northern California Providence hospital,” according to a press release.
Next, union reps plan to “bargain contracts at all six Providence hospitals across the region.”
Debra Lehnhard, a registered nurse at Healdsburg Hospital, tells radio reporters: “We’re excited to join our fellow NUHW members at the bargaining table and work together on a contract that secures market rate pay, improves patient care and safeguards medical care in our community. As the only non-union hospital in the region, we have a lot of catching up to do when it comes to our wages and retirement benefits.”
And the union’s president, Sophia Mendoza, is even more blunt in the NUHW press release: “Union power is growing across the Providence system in California, and our members are determined to use their strength to win fair wages, secure safe staffing levels, and keep medical services in their communities. Our newest members at Healdsburg worked hard to win their union, and they’re going to join us in winning groundbreaking contracts across Northern California.”
Note from Simone: This piece originally appeared in the weekly email newsletter I write for the Healdsburg Tribune, called Healdsburg Today. Subscribe here!
