In December 2025, nurses at UnityPoint Health's Methodist Hospital in Des Moines voted 871 to 666 to form a union. A clear majority. Six months later, that vote still hasn't been certified.

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is reviewing 251 challenged ballots while UnityPoint Health continues to file legal objections. Nurses say those objections aren't about fairness — they're about delay. ICU nurse Alex Wilken called them "baseless," saying: "Basically, we won. They think it's unfair. They're trying to delay it, and they can, because there's loopholes that allow them to do this."

The nurses who voted knew exactly what they were voting for. They've watched their pay get cut without warning, without explanation, and without any say. Nurses say understaffing and unpredictable pay aren't just a problem for them — they're a problem for every patient who walks through those doors.

Workers have a legal right to organize. When they vote, those results deserve to be certified — not buried under months of corporate legal filings. Registered nurse Yvette Vangen estimates UnityPoint is "spending thousands and thousands of dollars to pay lawyers to continue to delay the certification that we voted for."

This isn't a complicated ask. Count the votes. Certify the results. Give the nurses the resources they need to care for their patients.

We urge the NLRB to resolve the challenged ballots and certify the December 2025 election at UnityPoint Methodist without further delay.