Power

Planned Parenthood Drops Its Fight Against Unionizing Workers in Colorado

The health-care organization had appealed to President Trump's National Labor Relations Board to halt a unionization effort by its workers.

[Photo: Pro-Choice activists gather outside of the U.S. Supreme Court with signs in support of Abortion rights]
At Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, officials distributed anti-union fliers and held meetings in which workers were discouraged from joining the drive to form a union. Rena Schild / Shutterstock.com

Officials at Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains (PPRM) on Friday called off the organization’s stonewalling of a union drive by their workers.

The health-care organization had appealed to President Trump’s National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), after Paula Sawyer, a regional director of the NLRB, gave Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 105 approval to form a labor union at 14 of PPRM’s 24 clinicsThe federal NLRB in April ruled in PPRM’s favor, agreeing in a 2-1 vote to review Sawyer’s ruling, with two Trump appointees opposing SEIU on the issue.

PPRM on Friday released a statement saying it had “reached an agreement to resolve the labor dispute” with SEIU. The organization urged workers at the ten PPRM clinics not included in the agreement to join the union. 

“We value and appreciate the historic role that organized Labor has played in the struggle for workers’ rights and conditions,” Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains said in a statement. “We have a common interest in ensuring that all people have access to affordable health care as a human right. We are in this fight together. In this current politically hostile climate, this partnership has never been more important.”

Workers at Planned Parenthood of Columbia Willamette and Planned Parenthood of Central and Western New York accused the health-care organization of trying to stop their unionization efforts, which were ultimately successful. At PPRM, officials distributed anti-union fliers and held meetings in which workers were discouraged from joining the drive to form a union. Five of 56 Planned Parenthood affiliates across the United States are unionized.