Thirty-seven ballots that were delayed in the mail must be counted and added to the vote tally in an election to decide whether pharmacy technicians at the University of Kansas Health System can unionize.
In a June 25 order, the Kansas Public Employee Relations Board said ballots postmarked before the election deadline that did not arrive in time for the initial vote count on May 14 should be added to the tally.
The Pharmacy Guild, part of the IAM (International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers) Healthcare Union, narrowly lost that original vote, which included less than 40% of eligible ballots.
The election took place across two bargaining units, both of which include pharmacy technicians and pharmacy technician specialists.
The larger bargaining unit, which includes the health system's 39th Street main campus, voted 19-20 against unionizing. The unit had 105 eligible voters. Two ballots were voided.
The second bargaining unit, including a specialty pharmacy in the Southlake Business Park in Lenexa, voted 9-10 against unionizing. That unit had 43 eligible voters.
The union challenged the results, calling them "disenfranchisement of pharmacy professionals on a staggering scale." Union organizers said they had sworn declarations from 31 technicians who said they mailed their ballots on time but were not included in the results.
The union lobbied Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly for help and got support from a handful of state lawmakers, including Kansas Sen. Ethan Corson, a Johnson County Democrat who is running for governor, and Missouri Rep. Eric Woods, a Kansas City Democrat. Both spoke at a June 12 rally outside the main hospital.
"This is a matter of basic fairness," Corson said at the rally. "And in Kansas, basic fairness still should matter. … All you are asking for is for ballots validly cast before the deadline to be counted."
Cheyanne Barker, a technician who works in the main hospital and helped campaign for the union, called it basic democracy.
"This isn't about whether you support or oppose unions," she said. "It's about basic democracy and holding a fair election. It's about whether every eligible worker who exercised the right to vote should have that vote counted."
The board's decision, she said on June 29, is "exactly what we wanted to have happen."
According to the state order, which the union provided to The Beacon, 37 additional ballots arrived in the mail after the initial votes were counted and results were announced. The state order said six ballots were postmarked twice in Kansas City, Missouri, once on April 8 and again on May 19. Thirty-one were postmarked between April 11 and April 23.
The state order blamed the irregularity on the U.S. Postal Service and said all of the tardy ballots should be included in the election results. The order said the post office's "failure to timely deliver the disputed ballots caused an irregularity that had — and continues to have — the potential to change the election results."
The state board issued its order without a hearing, but said either party, the union or the health system, has a right to request a hearing.
A spokesman for the Kansas Department of Labor could not be reached for comment.
The health system responded with a written statement.
"Our staffing model for pharmacy technicians is, and has always been, responsive to changing needs. As a result, the number of pharmacy technician positions has continued to grow as our patient volumes increase," according to the statement. "Our pharmacy technicians have received two pay increases in the past year alone, as part of health system routine updates and to reflect new career path structures designed and implemented by the health system.
"These changes reflect collaboration and open communication with our pharmacy teams and our broader health system culture. We have and will continue to work directly with pharmacy leaders and pharmacy technician staff to ensure our staffing and compensation are optimal to meet the needs of our patients."
The union is optimistic about its chances once the missing votes are included, said Jon Irvine, a union coordinator.
"These pharmacy technicians have worked their butts off" on the unionizing effort, Irvine said. "It's been a year and a half."
The pharmacy technicians, who work with pharmacists, typically helping to prepare medications for patients, are calling on the health system to schedule more technicians to work each shift and asking for higher pay among other demands.
Their unionizing effort reflects a national trend among pharmacy workers. In recent years, and especially since the COVID pandemic, pharmacists and pharmacy techs have increasingly turned to unions for relief from what they claim were unsafe working conditions.
In 2023, a group of Kansas City-area pharmacists walked off their jobs at CVS-owned pharmacies to protest understaffing, low technician pay and burdensome workloads, helping spark a nationwide movement to unionize.
The Pharmacy Guild, part of the IAM Healthcare Union, grew out of that movement.
Irvine said the union agrees with the state order that the postal service is to blame for the late ballots.
"That used to be one of the best government services — and the most reliable," he said. "It seems like, more and more, due to cuts in funding, that's just turned into a nightmare."
This story was originally published by The Beacon, a fellow member of the KC Media Collective.
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