A major Wisconsin-based mental health provider is learning the hard way that it can’t get away with union-busting future NUHW members.
Rogers Behavioral Healthcare illegally fired three mental health professionals this month who told their management at their suburban Milwaukee facility that they and their coworkers were joining NUHW. The blatant union-busting effort elicited a forceful response from Rogers workers who are already NUHW members as well as local labor and community leaders.
In Milwaukee, local elected officials signed letters and issued statements calling on Rogers to stop its union busting, reinstate the fired workers, and recognize NUHW, as Rogers had done at facilities in California and Philadelphia.
Nine Milwaukee County Supervisors signed onto a letter excoriating Rogers for “firing workers for exercising their legal right to organize” and calling on the nonprofit’s CEO and board of directors to “reverse these terminations immediately.”
They added: “The future of quality mental‐health care in our region depends on trusting, empowered caregivers — not on silencing them. It is time for Rogers to stand on the right side of this issue and demonstrate that it truly values both its patients and its people.”
Seven state legislators and former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes signed onto a similar support letter, and on February 25, Barnes directly addressed the firings in a press conference, calling on Rogers to reinstate the workers, recognize their union, and negotiate a fair contract. “As the son of two union members myself, it troubles me that Rogers would try to illegally deny its workers a voice at work. We all need to live up to our shared Wisconsin values.”
The Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association and the Milwaukee Labor Council issued a press release calling on the workers to be reinstated and expressing “serious concerns about our members being able to get the care they need from a company that fired three frontline caregivers in retaliation for seeking recognition of their decision to form a union with the National Union of Healthcare Workers.”
The firings rocked Rogers from coast to coast, as NUHW members who work for the nonprofit mental health provider marched on their bosses in California and Philadelphia, calling for the immediate reinstatement of their compatriots in Wisconsin. And, in Wisconsin, the firings were front-page news with stories by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, WISN-12, CBS-58, Labor Radio, Wisconsin Examiner, and the Wisconsin Business Times.
Several workers reported that access to care, which was already an issue, deteriorated after the firings, which took place in the middle of the day without any warning.
“They didn’t give me a chance to warn my patients,” Heather Cunningham, a nurse practitioner, who was fired, told the Journal Sentinel. “In an instant, I’m cut off.”
Rogers is one of the country’s largest providers of mental health and addiction treatment services. The nonprofit corporation, based in Oconomowoc, Wisc., has voluntarily recognized the right of its employees at three Rogers’ clinics in California and one in Pennsylvania to be represented by NUHW.
However, in its home state, Rogers has chosen to hire unionbusters to intimidate nurses, behavioral health technicians, and mental health therapists in advance of union elections soon to be scheduled by the National Labor Relations Board at clinics in both West Allis (a suburb of Milwaukee) and Madison. As part of that intimidation effort, Rogers illegally fired three workers at the West Allis clinic on February 9 in clear violation of federal labor law.
“This is an outrageous and illegal act of retaliation that will leave patients with even fewer direct caregivers,” said Stephani Lohman, a nurse practitioner, who is one of the fired workers. “Our goal in forming a union has been to improve care and reverse changes that have made it harder for patients to get the services they need.”
NUHW, which represents more private sector mental health workers than any other union in the country, has filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board against Rogers over the firings, demanding that workers get their jobs back. NUHW also is alerting unions across Wisconsin, in both the public and private sector, about the firings and raising the question whether their members should be getting treatment from a company that retaliates against its workers.
The choice to form a union by 36 mental health professionals at Rogers Madison Behavioral Health Treatment Center and 63 at the West Allis Outpatient Treatment Center comes on the heels of Rogers workers at its three California behavioral health centers joining NUHW without any retaliation from Rogers and negotiating contracts that included raises, limits on caseloads, and guarantees that no jobs would be lost to new technologies, including artificial intelligence. In December, workers at Rogers Philadelphia also joined NUHW without any opposition from Rogers and are now negotiating a first contract.
“Our members at Rogers have been on the leading edge when it comes to improving mental health services, but I’ve never seen such an about-face from an employer,” said NUHW President Emeritus Sal Rosselli. “Rogers was on its way to becoming a much better place to give and receive care, and now Rogers is the poster child for illegal retaliation against workers in its home state.”
The staff at Rogers West Allis clinic began organizing a union late last year several months after the company reclassified its mental health clinicians from salaried to hourly workers. The shift led to many workers being called off their shifts when the patient census dipped, resulting in higher patient volumes for the remaining staff members and less available care for patients. Rogers also lifted caps on caseloads, forcing caregivers to be responsible for far more patients than previously.
