St. Mary's Nurse Emily Berceau on Organizing and the Fight Ahead

from America’s Work Force Union Podcast · host BMA Media Group

They started organizing in 2019. COVID shut them down. They started again. Then again. Management took down their flyers, told nurses they could not discuss the union despite federal law protecting that right and threatened workers with suspension for wearing a badge reel that said Nurses United. In June 2026, more than 800 nurses at St. Mary's Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin, voted 89% for SEIU Wisconsin. On today's episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, labor and delivery nurse Emily Berceau tells the full story of the multi-year organizing campaign at SSM Health, the management tactics nurses faced at every turn, what the first contract fight looks like now that the vote is won and what she would say to any worker going through their own organizing battle. Her answer: a union is made up of average workers pushing together for something better. Solidarity is power. Visit seiuwi.org for more.

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Sep 9, 2026

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St. Mary’s labor and delivery nurse Emily Berceau discusses the seven-year organizing campaign at SSM Health in Madison, Wisconsin, from a 2019 push that reached 40% signed cards before COVID derailed it through multiple subsequent efforts to the June 2026 vote where more than 800 nurses chose SEIU Wisconsin 89% in favor, the management tactics along the way including threats of suspension for wearing a Nurses United badge reel and what safe staffing ratios, fair compensation and seniority protections mean for the first contract fight now underway.

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St. Mary's Nurse Emily Berceau on Organizing and the Fight Ahead

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This episode is 34 minutes long.

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This episode was published on September 9, 2026.

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