Yakima, Wash. – Approximately 100 clinicians at Community Health of Central Washington (CHCW) have won their election to unionize with the Union of American Physicians and Dentists (UAPD) with an overwhelming super majority support.
“After over a year of organizing, we are happy with the results of the vote to recognize our union of physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, dentists, behavioral health consultants, and pharmacists at CHCW. We are looking forward to working with the CHCW administration to develop a collective bargaining agreement that helps us continue to provide the high quality of care that drew all of us to practice within this organization. We are grateful for the support of our organizers at the UAPD that helped guide us through this organizing effort and supported us through the vote,” Meghan Colleran, Nurse Practitioner, said.
“This victory demonstrates our clinicians’ commitment to protecting and improving patient care,” Dr. Stuart Bussey, UAPD President, said. “By unionizing, they have secured a stronger collective voice to advocate more effectively for their patients and ensure that the clinical perspective is taken into account when important healthcare decisions are made. The organization’s policies must reflect the health needs of the community.”
The vote, conducted by the National Labor Relations Board, establishes the UAPD as the collective bargaining representative for the clinicians. The bargaining unit consists of physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, dentists, pharmacists, and mental health counselors working across all six CHCW clinic locations in Yakima and Kittitas Counties.