St. Mary's Medical Techs in Nevada Join CWA

Seeking a voice on the job and an end to unfair work policies, 170 medical technicians at St. Mary's Regional Medical Center in Reno, Nevada, voted to join CWA last week. The workers, members of CWA Local 9413, voted for a union voice by a 57 to 43 percent margin.

A key issue for the respiratory therapists, radiologists, CT scan operators, and other workers is the restrictive paid time off leave policy that eliminates sick leave altogether and provides workers with a fixed number of days that includes vacation, sick leave and holidays. Another big issue is a hospital policy of forcing workers to take leave without pay when the patient load falls below a certain level.

The medical technicians are the second group at St. Mary's to vote for CWA representation. In December 2008, 570 workers at St. Mary's joined CWA and Local 9413. Last year, they successfully negotiated improvements to the leave policy in their first contract.