Chris Peiffer knew he wouldn’t get rich as a social worker, especially as a Marion County Public Defender Agency employee. But it’s hard to look the other way when colleagues leave and immediately get a $15,000 pay bump.
“I don’t want to leave,” said Peiffer, who holds a master’s degree and has seven years of experience at the agency. “I love it here. I can scrape, scrounge and make due.”
That’s why Peiffer and other staff at the agency — including attorneys, paralegals and front desk workers — voted last week to unionize.
Around the same time, nurses at two Indiana University Health hospitals also revealed they’re planning to form a union. In a health care system already stressed by the pandemic, they say staffing shortages and low wages have further hindered their ability to care for patients.
“We’re finding it very hard to retain our nurses that have experience,” said Bailey Pollard, a nurse in University Hospital’s intensive care unit, who is leading the union effort.
Unionization is gaining momentum across the country. American approval of labor unions hit 71% last year, according to a Gallup survey. The last time the survey found that much support for unions was 1965.
Union membership, though, is at a historic low. Only 7.4% of Indiana workers were union members last year, according to federal labor data. That’s the lowest membership rate going back to at least 1989, and it was the sixth straight year below 10%.
Still, there are other signs of a potential resurgence in labor unions. In Plainfield, workers at two Starbucks locations plan to hold a union vote early next year. And in a complaint filed by United Auto Workers, employees at a Honda plant in Greensburg say management has told them to remove union stickers from their hats amid efforts to unionize.
Brett Voorhies, president of AFL-CIO’s Indiana chapter, is not currently involved in the unionization efforts for public defenders or nurses, but he said his phone has been busy as more Indiana workers move to unionize.
“We’re more favorable than the Democratic Party, the Republican Party and the clergy,” he said.
IU Health pushes back on union
The nurses see an uphill battle.
“Many of us have brought concerns to our hospital administration for years,” Pollard said. “We’ve given them more than enough opportunities to listen to us and change policies.”
IU Health fired nurse Lacie Little in 2015 after she tried to organize a union at the system’s Methodist Hospital. The hospital system settled unfair labor practice charges with Little and another nurse after they complained to the National Labor Relations Board.
Eight years later, nurses at University and Methodist say they’re trying for a union again because of overwhelming patient loads. Pollard said conditions are contributing to worse outcomes for patients, but declined to share specifics because of health privacy laws.
In addition to seeking better pay and benefits, the nurses hope to achieve improved staffing ratios to handle the volume of patients.
In a statement, IU Health said it respected the nurses’ “right to explore joining a union.”
“But IU Health desires to remain a non-union work environment and does not feel a union is in the best interest of our nurses or patients,” the statement noted.
Public defender: ‘Underpaid and overworked’
At the public defender agency, where attorneys represent Marion County citizens who cannot afford to hire their own lawyer, workers said pay and workload were the primary drivers for unionizing.
“We have been underpaid and overworked for time immemorial,” said Lucy Frick, a major felonies attorney who helped lead unionization efforts.
Frick said she never had more than 30 cases at a time before the COVID-19 pandemic but now works on about 45 cases. And that’s not as high as some others, whose caseloads eclipse 50.
Chief Public Defender Bob Hill told Mirror Indy he supports unionizing the agency, in part because there are 30 attorney vacancies and low pay is a deterrent for potential applicants.
“Organizing like this is something that should not be feared,” Hill said. “I think it’ll be a good thing for our criminal justice system.”
Median pay for public defenders in Indiana last year was $77,304, according to a report from the Indiana Public Defender Commission. Meanwhile, median pay for all attorneys was $104,562.
Calli Pugh, a social worker in the agency’s adult division, hopes the union can address a pay scale for social workers that she said doesn’t incentivize advanced education and licensing.
Pugh, who has a master’s degree, said she makes $55,000 a year, which includes pay for being a statistical data analyst. That’s just $4,000 more than starting pay for a social worker with only a bachelor’s degree.
What’s next for the 2 union efforts
An organized workforce with better pay and fewer gaps in staffing could help the public defender agency provide better representation to clients.
Pugh said that’s everyone’s goal, even though it isn’t contingent on unionizing.
“But it makes it a hell of a lot easier,” she said.
About 73% of agency workers voted in favor of unionizing with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, well above the 50% threshold the National Labor Relations Board requires.
The union next will work on negotiating its first contract, which Frick said could take about a year.
At IU Health, about 300 nurses have joined the union effort, Pollard said.
“We have just reached the minimum 30% to be able to file for an election,” Pollard said. “We are hoping to get above 50% support before we actually file for an election. Ideally within the next month or two we will have enough people to move forward.”
Mirror Indy reporter Tyler Fenwick covers economics. Contact him at 317-766-1406 or tyler.fenwick@mirrorindy.org. Follow him on X @ty_fenwick.Mirror Indy reporter Mary Claire Molloy covers health. Reach her at maryclaire.molloy@mirrorindy.org. Follow her on X @mcmolloy7.
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