WARWICK – Registered nurses at Kent Hospital have voted to unionize, joining the United Nurses & Allied Professionals (UNAP), union officials announced today.

The nurses voted 290 to 214 to join UNAP, bringing the labor union’s membership to more than 5,000 nurses, respiratory therapists, radiologic technologists and other health care professionals, at hospitals and other institutions across the state. Turnout was high, with ballots cast by 84 percent of the roughly 600 workers eligible to vote.

“In recent years, Kent has become like a big business and staff morale has been low,” Kent nurse Deborah Almeida said in a statement today.

“With the backing of the UNAP, we will have a stronger voice and we will be heard,” added Diane Ardito, an emergency room nurse at the hospital. “We can make Kent so much better!”

Hospital officials were less enthusiastic.

“Obviously, we’re disappointed,” said Sandra L. Coletta, the hospital’s new CEO, who previously was chief operating officer of The Miriam Hospital, a non-union facility in Providence. (READ MORE)

“But the nurses – I respect them,” she said. “I’ve been here about three weeks, and I’ve spent a lot of that time getting out to meet people. I’ve spoken with people who support the unions, and those who don’t, and they’ve all been great people” who want to help the patients and improve the hospital.

The election – conducted yesterday at Kent Hospital – was overseen by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

It followed a UNAP organizing drive that began nearly a year ago, spurred by “concerns about safe staffing, fair compensation [and] fair treatment, and job-security fears arising from the hospital’s pending takeover by Lifespan,” the union said. A similar drive four years ago by the Service Employees International Union failed to win passage.

“This tremendous victory is a credit to the courage and commitment of the Kent nurses,” UNAP president Linda McDonald, who is also a registered nurse, said in a statement this morning. “All Rhode Islanders are the winners in this election, because empowered nurses are the most effective advocates that a patient could have.”

The nurses “went into this with a lot of thought, and the best interests of the hospital in mind, and they made their decision,” Coletta said. “Now, we’ll have to work with them. … At the moment, it’s business as usual. We’re taking care of patients just as we did yesterday.”

So far, Coletta has one appointment to meet with UNAP officials – not so much to begin negotiations, she said, as “to say ‘hi, how are you? I’m Sandy’.”

Going forward, however, “it’s obviously going to be a busy few months, working out the details and getting to an agreement,” she said. “There are challenges, and they can be addressed and surmounted. … Their goal is to improve Kent – so we all have the best interests of the hospital in mind.”

Kent Hospital is the state’s second-largest private hospital. It is a member of the nonprofit Care New England Health System, which was founded in 1996 by Kent, Butler and Women & Infants hospitals, and has grown to include Care New England Home Health and one Care New England Wellness Center. To learn more, visit www.CareNewEngland.org.

The United Nurses & Allied Professionals (UNAP), based in Providence, is a labor union representing more than 5,000 nurses, respiratory therapists, radiologic technologists and other health care professionals at hospitals and other institutions across Rhode Island. Additional information is available at www.unap.org.