Teamsters Local 743 filed a petition Thursday, Oct. 22, seeking a union election for 2,408 registered nurses at four Endeavor Health hospitals.
The filing covers nurses at Endeavor's Evanston, Skokie, Highland Park and Glenbrook hospitals, Evanston Now reported. Nurses scheduled a press conference for 10:30 a.m. Friday, Oct. 23, outside Endeavor's headquarters at 1301 Central St.
In a statement, the Teamsters alleged Endeavor has "engaged in numerous union-busting tactics, including unlawfully terminating two nurses at Evanston Hospital in retaliation for their union activity." The union also accused hospital management of surveillance, coercion and interrogation to discourage organizing. Endeavor did not directly address the alleged retaliatory firings in its response to the Tribune.
Endeavor said in a statement that it "respects the federally-protected rights of our nurses to make an informed choice about union representation." The health system added that it believes direct conversations between nurses and leadership are the best approach.
The organizing push has been building for months. Nurses first announced plans to unionize during Nurses' Week in May, citing pay cuts, unsafe working conditions and staffing issues not being addressed by Endeavor, according to Evanston Now. In June, dozens of Evanston Hospital nurses rallied outside Endeavor's Central Street offices, alleging intimidation by the administration.
Stacey Oswald, an Endeavor intensive care unit nurse who floats between the four hospitals, told the Tribune she has seen patient care decline in her three years at the system. She said there have been "numerous days" when multiple ICU nurses each had three patients, above the typical one or two.
The staffing strain is personal for Oswald.
"We had these unsafe ratios and it directly affects the patients and us as nurses," she told the Tribune.
The union drive has drawn political attention. Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss sent a letter to Endeavor President and CEO J.P. Gallagher on June 1 warning that the city has "no tolerance for retaliatory measures taken against employees for engaging in union organizing activity," according to Evanston Now. U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Evanston, has also publicly condemned the health system's alleged behavior.
The NLRB petition required at least 30% of potential bargaining unit members to sign union authorization cards before filing, the Tribune reported. The filing is the second NLRB petition from Endeavor nurses in recent weeks. Nurses at Endeavor's Edward Hospital in Naperville filed separately earlier in October to join a different union, the National Nurses Organizing Committee.
The union push comes as Endeavor prepares to merge with Rush University System for Health, a deal announced Oct. 14 that would create one of the largest health systems in Illinois with more than 46,000 employees. That merger is targeted to close in early 2027, pending regulatory approval. Oswald told the Tribune that nurses remain unclear on what the merger would mean for them.
