ATHENS, Ohio — More than 70% of participating Hopewell Health Centers employees at the nonprofit’s 90 Hospital Drive location voted to unionize on May 22, according to National Labor Relations Board records. The NLRB officially certified the vote last Friday.
“Our union is so needed at Hopewell, and I just felt very grateful that people showed up and supported,” said Elise Westenbarger, a case manager at Hopewell. “Ultimately, the conditions of our work affects our clients and our ability to help them and to see their lives improve. If our lives improve, then we’re in a better place to help them improve their lives.”
The union represents about 50 therapists, community psychiatric supportive treatment providers and peer support specialists. It is organized under the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Ohio Council 8.
Employees who previously spoke with the Independent cited low pay, unreasonable productivity requirements, and a lack of transparency as the main drivers of their union campaign.
Jamie Ware, an employment specialist at Hopewell, said beginning to address these problems through the union will improve care for clients.
“Clients will be better served, basically, when providers have the time and energy to dedicate to those clients — and that can be helped by better pay, smaller workloads and more transparency from upper management,” Ware said.
“It’s the same concept of … when you’re on a plane, and you have to put your own mask on first before you help someone else who can’t put their own mask on,” Ware said. “It’s just on a different scale.”
Thirty-one of 46 eligible employees participated in the election, according to records obtained from the NLRB through a request.
Overall, employees voted 22-9 to unionize. Meanwhile, the professional group within the union voted 10-2 to be included in the same bargaining unit as their other coworkers at 90 Hospital Drive.
Westenbarger said the result was the outcome of many people’s unique efforts and contributions to the campaign, including through many conversations between coworkers over the multi-year organizing process.
“Not everyone has the same skill set, not everyone has the same strengths — and it really was such a representation of our strength as a group to have that win,” she said.
Ware said, “I was personally very happy to hear that all of us came together and were able to pass the union vote. It’s very exciting. And then shortly thereafter, my mind turned to: OK, now the real work begins of actually nailing down some details and hammering out an agreement with Hopewell.”
Ware added that negotiations don’t need to be contentious or adversarial.
“At the end of the day, we all want to serve our clients and serve our community,” Ware said. “I’m hoping that we can problem solve and strategically come up with a way to create a working environment that is sustainable long term.”
Jesse Luther Woodard, a therapist at Hopewell, said the negotiation process could ultimately prove beneficial to management.
“Would upper management like to hear 15 different work-related complaints from 15 different clinicians, or have a system where all those employees can participate in a democratic process to narrow and organize those complaints into specific goals/agendas/bargaining points?” Woodard said in a written statement.
He said unionization is “not just about pay and productivity,” but also effective systems to ensure the health of the organization.
Hopewell CEO Mark Birdenbaugh did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.
The bargaining unit of about 50 employees joins a separate unit of approximately 30 other workers at the agency’s Columbus Road location, who unionized in fall 2022. Overall, the nonprofit healthcare provider employs more than 950 people across Southeast Ohio.
Westenbarger said the existence of the previously established bargaining unit may help newly unionized Hopewell employees in contract negotiations.
“We’re hoping to start with meeting together, and find out a little bit more details about where they’re at in the process and what their hurdles have been, and also just follow their lead that they’ve already established,” Westenbarger said. “They’ve already been working on their contract … and so they’ve got a template that we can look at and kind of follow.”
Namita Waghray, communications director at AFSCME Ohio Council 8, said contract negotiations to establish a union for the Columbus Road Hopewell employees remain ongoing.
Westenbarger said, “If we can start building our relationship with members from that group as well, then our combined strength will be a lot more effective.”
Waghray added that AFSCME will support the workers in both bargaining units in their contract negotiations.
“This doesn’t just end with these folks — they organized at a previous Hopewell, and they hope to work with other Hopewell employees,” Waghray said. “It is a constant goal to make Hopewell better and to give its members and its employees a real voice on the job.”
