National Union of Healthcare Workers: Rogers Behavioral Health fires three more union supporters at suburban Milwaukee facility

All three workers had been suspended by Rogers on the day of the union election when employees voted 54-3 to join the National Union of Healthcare Workers

West Allis, Wisc. — Rogers Behavioral health has illegally fired three additional workers at its suburban Milwaukee clinic, just days after they and their colleagues voted overwhelmingly to join the National Union of Healthcare Workers.

Rogers has now fired six staunch union supporters at its clinic in West Allis since workers began organizing earlier this year, including two nurse practitioners and a doctor, who were fired in February after they informed management that workers had decided to seek union recognition. Despite Rogers’ attempts to intimidate the approximately 63 workers in West Allis, they voted 54-4 to unionize on April 22.

The three most recent firings took place last week, with the company dismissing two mental health clinicians it claims put on costumes during lunchtime on the day of the union election, and a front desk worker, who did not stop the three workers who had been wrongfully terminated in February from exercising their right to enter the facility to vote in the union election.

“Rogers is desperate because workers are standing up for each other and demanding better care for patients,” said Kate Zolandz, a mental health therapist who was among the three workers fired last week. 

Rogers suspended Zolandz on the day of the election for putting on a cape for 30 minutes during lunchtime and later cited her attire as the reason for her termination. At the time she was suspended on the day of the election, Zolandz had agreed to serve as the union’s vote count monitor because Rogers refused to allow the union’s staff representative to enter the facility. Prior to the election, Rogers had also illegally changed Zolandz’s job duties after she spoke about the union drive at a recent Women’s Day event and threatened to discipline her if she participated in a panel discussion being organized by a local media outlet.

“We won’t let Rogers intimidate us,” Zolandz added. “Our patients come to us for treatment because they want to make a change in their lives and recognize our expertise as mental health professionals. But we can’t help our patients to the best of our ability when we have no say in the care we provide. I’m going to fight to get my job back, and we’re all going to demand that Rogers respect our rights, follow the law and bargain a contract that lets us provide the best possible care for the people we serve. That’s what Rogers did when workers in California unionized, and that’s what Rogers is going to have to do here in Wisconsin.”

Rogers is one of the country’s largest providers of mental health and addiction treatment services. The nonprofit corporation, based in Oconomowoc, voluntarily recognized the right of its employees at three Rogers’ clinics in California and one in Philadelphia to be represented by NUHW. While contract negotiations are still ongoing in Philadelphia, the contracts Rogers agreed to for workers based in the Bay Area, Los Angeles and San Diego are among the best in the industry. They include strong raises, limits on caseloads, and guarantees that no jobs will be lost to new technologies, including artificial intelligence. 

However, in its home state, Rogers tried to squelch the organizing drive by hiring union busters to intimidate mental health therapists, behavioral health technicians and nurses in both West Allis and Madison, as well as firing the six workers in West Allis. 

The federal labor board is investigating what transpired during the election in West Allis, where Rogers officials refused to allow an NUHW representative into the facility, potentially preventing ballot counting, because federal law requires a union and management representative to be present for the vote count. After Zolandz was then suspended, a second worker stepped forward to observe the vote count over the objections of Rogers management.

Rogers has subsequently filed complaints seeking to prevent the certification of the election results in West Allis, claiming that the union “organized a trespass” because the three workers who had been fired in February entered the facility to vote. Rogers has not sought to prevent the certification of the union election at its Madison clinic, where workers voted 24-4 last month to join NUHW.

Rogers has insisted that the three union supporters it fired in February were management; however, in a 29-page decision issued last month, National Labor Relations Board Regional Director Jennifer A. Hadsall ruled that the jobs were part of the union’s bargaining unit. Since the workers are contesting the legality of the firings, they had the right to vote in the election with Rogers able to challenge the votes if they could have determined the outcome.

Rogers originally tried to prevent the union elections from taking place by arguing to the Labor Board that its 13 locations in Wisconsin amounted to a single bargaining unit, even though it has bargained separate contracts with NUHW-represented workers in California and is now doing so with workers in Philadelphia. Regional Director Hadsall rejected Rogers’ argument and a federal judge later denied a motion from Rogers seeking a temporary restraining order to block the election. 

“Rogers is rolling out the dirty tricks, but that has only made workers more determined to build a powerful union that protects their rights and gives them a voice to improve care,” NUHW President Emeritus Sal Rosselli said. “It’s alarming that a nonprofit people depend on for recovery when they are at rock bottom would violate the trust of its own staff and leave patients without dedicated caregivers who can help them turn their lives around. Instead of trying to intimidate its workers in Wisconsin, Rogers needs to treat them with the same respect it has shown its workers in California, and enter good-faith negotiations for contracts that improve care and working conditions. The double standard must end.”

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.