Deal averts strike that was to start Tuesday at Madison’s largest hospital system

UW Health, nurses and the union seeking to represent them have agreed to a legal process to establish whether the hospital system can recognize and bargain with a union. Hospital and union representatives along with Gov. Tony Evers announced the deal Monday — averting a threatened three-day walkout by nurses that was to begin Tuesday morning.

At the same time, UW Health has agreed to more directly engage with nurses who have joined the union through its existing system for getting employee input on issues relating to patient care and other topics, according to CEO Alan Kaplan and a nurses union representative, Colin Gillis.

Evers, Gillis and Kaplan announced the agreement at a noon press conference in the state Capitol following five days of mediation including two days of talks at the executive residence hosted by the governor.

“My message was quite clear — that the people of Wisconsin expect everybody to work together for the best of everyone,” Evers said. “But it was just important to bring people together, and to have them communicate directly with each other. And it worked well. Both sides did a great job.”

The threatened strike was aimed at pressuring the UW Hospital and Clinics Authority (UWHCA) — the corporate entity that operates the hospital system — to recognize the nurses’ union and to bargain with them in the face of what had been until Monday the administration’s adamant...

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