A tale as old as modern time: unions promise the world, fail to deliver results, and both companies and workers pay the price. The healthcare industry is no exception to this general rule, and the results are on display following a rash of summer-to-fall strikes by hospital workers, many of whom returned to work without settling core grievances.
Some of those strikes broke records for their duration and attendance, which further stressed facilities already pushed to the brink by the ongoing pandemic. Yet unions keep pushing for double-digit raises for nurses and other healthcare workers, and additional lengthy bargaining table sessions can lead to repeat strikes.
We almost saw it happen this month. Or at least, we are seeing the late-breaking aversion of another walkout from the Minnesota Nurses Association, which waged a 3-day September strike by 15,000 nurses, who headed back to work without meaningful results. The union followed up with a rally to demand 30% pay increases, and workers voted to authorize a second, longer strike that was set to begin on Dec. 11. The union suggested that this strike could run through Dec. 31, but as of Dec. 7, deals have been struck with multiple hospitals. Only St. Luke’s Lake View Hospital continues to negotiate with the union, and talks will begin again on Dec. 9.
Here’s a roundup of other notable healthcare strike news, which include some aversions that arrived with steep price tags. We will begin with multiple California updates:
- A California SEIU local announced that nurses, pharmacists, and other healthcare workers authorized a strike at Providence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana Medical Center. Further announcements on the timing will be forthcoming.
- Elsewhere in California, Tenet Hospital averted a planned strike by 850 workers after the National Union of Healthcare Workers union and Fountain Valley Regional Hospital and Medical Center reached a new contract.
- The California Nurses Association recently announced a strike cancellation for 1,000 nurses at the Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center following a tentative agreement between the union and facility. That strike aversion arrived with a pricey 22.5% pay boost for over 21,000 total workers over a few years.
- Connecticut’s Windham Hospital finally reached the end of nearly year-long contract negotiations between the facility and the union, which sent 100 nurses to the picket lines in October and threatened a second strike.
Meanwhile, Canada’s five biggest healthcare unions came together in Ontario to urge action from Premier Doug Ford. The unions argue that Ford and Health Minister Sylvia Jones have failed to help hospitals retain staff, who are reportedly nearing 15% turnover and could spark the collapse of the healthcare system.
