Here are nine updates on unionization efforts and other labor organizing among clinicians at hospitals and health systems in October, as reported by Becker’s:
1. Registered nurses at Providence St. Joseph Hospital Eureka (Calif.) and Providence Redwood Memorial Hospital in Fortuna, Calif., ratified a three-year contract Oct. 30.
2. SEIU Local 73, which represents about 200 advanced practice providers at Chicago-based UI Health, issued a 10-day notice of intent to strike. A strike could begin on or after Nov. 11, according to a UI Health statement shared with Becker’s. UI Health noted that filing the notice does not mean a strike will occur.
3. Members of the Massachusetts Nurses Association plan to begin an open-ended strike Nov. 12 at Boston-based Brigham and Women’s Hospital, part of Somerville, Mass.-based Mass General Brigham. The union, which represents more than 4,000 Brigham nurses, issued a 10-day strike notice Nov. 1, according to a union news release shared with Becker’s. The notice follows the nurses’ vote Oct. 23 to reject the hospital’s final contract offer, after the union postponed an earlier open-ended strike so members could vote. Negotiations are scheduled to resume Nov. 9.
4. Nurses represented by the Staff Nurses Association began a two-day strike Oct. 27 at Providence Santa Rosa (Calif.) Memorial Hospital, according to the union and a statement the hospital shared with Becker’s.
5. Nurses at four Endeavor Health hospitals filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board Oct. 22 seeking an election to be represented by Teamsters Local 743.
6. Resident physicians and fellows at Rhode Island Hospital in Providence voted to ratify their first union contract Oct. 21, with 95% of participating members voting in favor, according to a news release from the Committee of Interns and Residents shared with Becker’s.
7. Nurses represented by Teamsters Local 332 at Henry Ford Genesys Hospital in Grand Blanc, Mich., ended a 411-day strike after ratifying a new contract Oct. 20. The agreement includes a 13% increase for below-market wages, new shift and weekend pay rates, staffing ratio protections and seniority rights for striking nurses.
8. Primary care clinicians at Corvallis, Ore.-based Samaritan Health Services voted to join Northwest Medicine United, an AFT Healthcare affiliate. The union said it will represent about 120 physicians, nurse practitioners and physician associates across 24 Samaritan primary care clinics in Oregon. The clinicians will prepare to negotiate a first contract.
9. Workers at Cleveland Clinic Lutheran Hospital ratified a new contract and returned to work after more than two weeks on strike, according to an Oct. 8 news release shared with Becker’s by SEIU District 1199.
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