Confluence Health Mares Campus nurses voted to unionize

WENATCHEE — About 100 registered nurses at the Confluence Health Mares Campus in Wenatchee are now represented by a nurses union.

Nurses at the Confluence Health Mares Campus — located at 820 N. Chelan Ave. in Wenatchee and formerly known as the Wenatchee Valley Hospital — voted July 19 and chose the Washington State Nurses Association to represent them as their bargaining representative, according to a WSNA news release.

More than 70 nurses voted in the election.

The organizing campaign lasted about five months with nurses expressing “frustration over wage parity, potential floating between other facilities in the Confluence Health system, and confusion during changes to its management structure,” according to the news release.

“I know that these past 5 months have been stressful and confusing for all nurses,” said Megan Baute, a gastroenterology nurse at the Mares campus, in the news release. “I am so happy that we can now move forward together, regardless of how we cast our ballot, to begin working with experienced WSNA staff on addressing our issues at the table.”