Nurses in Iowa Are Fighting an Unprecedented Anti-Union Campaign

https://prospect.org/labor/2025-09-22-nurses-in-iowa-fighting-unprecedented-anti-union-campaign/

Hospital system UnityPoint would rather spend millions on anti-union ‘educators’ than on safe staffing policies.

by Emma Janssen

September 22, 2025


If formed, the union would work with Teamsters Local 90 and represent about 2,000 nurses across Iowa Methodist Medical Center, Blank Children’s Hospital, Methodist West Hospital, and Iowa Lutheran Hospital.

This July, Heather Torrence was in the middle of a 12-hour shift in the ER at Iowa Lutheran Hospital in Des Moines, where she’s worked for 14 years. An intoxicated teenage patient was brought in, and it was Torrence’s job to initiate the treatment process—drawing blood, taking vitals, and speaking to the patient and their family. But before Torrence entered the room, she noticed something that she thinks saved her life: The lights were out.

She proceeded with caution, opening the door to ask why the patient had turned off the lights. But before she could do anything, she saw a movement to her left and heard the patient scream: “I’ll kill you. I’ll fucking kill you. I’m going to kill you!”

The patient attacked Torrence, stabbing and scratching at her with a pen and a pair of bent stainless steel forceps. Torrence shouted for security and wrestled with the patient. The entire ER stood still.

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“My first thought was, who’s going to go home and tell my child that I was attacked and stabbed by someone his age?” Torrence said. “And then it was, as much as I don’t want this to happen to me, I need to stop her and keep her from doing this to someone else.”

FULL story at link above.