Nurses at Lee&rsquo;s Summit Medical Center voted to remove their union as bargaining agent, but the results will be contested.</p><p>In an election held over two days last week, 68 nurses voted to remove a unit of the California Nurses Association while 59 voted to retain it, said Dan Hubbel, regional director of the National Labor Relations Board.</p><p>About 150 nurses at the medical center were eligible to vote in the election.</p><p>The California Nurses Association&rsquo;s National Nurses Organizing Committee has represented nurses at Lee&rsquo;s Summit and Menorah Medical Center for the past few months, succeeding Nurses United Local 5126.</p><p>The new labor group succeeded in getting new three-year contracts at both hospitals in September after previous agreements expired earlier in the year. A vote on whether to keep or oust the bargaining unit at Menorah will be later this month.</p><p>At Lee&rsquo;s Summit, however, the results will be challenged.</p><p>&ldquo;The union will be contesting the results of the election based on what we believe was improper conduct,&rdquo; said Julie Perry, an organizer with the new labor group.</p><p>HCA Midwest, the area&rsquo;s biggest hospital network, operates Lee&rsquo;s Summit and Menorah.</p><p>&ldquo;We are very pleased with the results of the election,&rdquo; Damond W. Boatwright, chief executive of Lee&rsquo;s Summit Medical Center, said in a statement. &ldquo;While the hospital certainly respects the right of our nurses to be represented by a union, we also deeply appreciate the views of our nurses who recognize that together we created a healthy working environment and that this union is not necessary to maintain it.&rdquo;</p><p>The hospital declined to comment on the union&rsquo;s plans to contest the vote and said it had received no information on the matter.</p><p>The election at Lee&rsquo;s Summit is the second setback this year for the area nurses&rsquo; union. In May, nurses at Centerpoint Medical Center in Independence voted to remove Nurses United Local 5126 by a wide margin.</p><p>Union officials were hopeful that a change in affiliation to the California Nurses Association would change outcomes at Lee&rsquo;s Summit and Menorah, the two remaining HCA Midwest hospitals with unionized nurses.</p><p>The California Nurses Association is the biggest labor group in the country representing registered nurses. Nurses United Local 5126 had been affiliated with the health-care division of the American Federation of Teachers union.