Here are eight updates on unionization efforts and other labor organizing among clinicians and hospitals and health systems in May, as reported by Becker’s:
1. Nurses at Houlton (Maine) Regional Hospital, who are represented by the Maine State Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, began a four-day strike May 26. The union represents 55 nurses at the 25-bed hospital.
2. Hospitalists with Swedish Medical Group voted to join Northwest Medicine United, AFT Local 6552, becoming the first physicians in the Renton, Wash.-based Providence system to unionize in the state .
3. Union-represented health unit coordinators reached a tentative labor agreement May 22 with Park Nicollet Methodist Hospital in St. Louis Park, Minn., days before workers were scheduled to begin a three-day strike May 27.
4. Tens of thousands of University of California healthcare and service workers ratified a labor contract with the university.The agreement, which expires Nov. 30, 2029, was ratified by 96.4% of voting AFSCME Local 3299 members.
5. Members of the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals ratified their first labor contract, averting a five-day strike that was set to begin May 19 at Butler (Pa.) Memorial Hospital, part of Greensburg, Pa.-based Independence Health System.
6. Workers at Rogers Behavioral Health facilities in West Allis and Madison, Wis., voted to join the National Union of Healthcare Workers amid pushback from the provider. There are approximately 63 workers in West Allis and 33 in West Madison who were eligible to vote in the union elections. In separate elections held April 22, the West Allis workers voted 53-4, and the Madison workers 26-4 in favor of unionization.
7. Nearly 3,000 nurses at Evanston, Ill.-based Endeavor Health are seeking to unionize over staff shortages and pay cuts. Nurses at four of Endeavor’s nine hospitals would be represented by Teamsters Local 743.
8. Registered nurses and other healthcare professionals at the George Washington University Hospital in Washington, D.C., are backing a decertification petition filed with the National Labor Relations Board seeking an election on whether to remove the District of Columbia Nurses Association as their bargaining representative.
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