Growing labor movement challenges hospitals
Growing labor movement challenges hospitals
Hospitals worried about maintaining a highly motivated work force increasingly are facing another major challenge: organized labor.
"Health care is squarely in the cross hairs of organized labor," warns John Lyncheski, chair of the Labor SLIC for the American Health Lawyers Association in Washington, DC. "It is probably their No. 1 target industry right now and probably the most fertile ground for organizing new members."
"[Health care] employees are frustrated with their work, and in some cases they are downright angry with their employers," says Lyncheski, who notes that the number of nursing strikes increased from a total of four in 1995 to 21 in 1999, and seven so far this year.
Lyncheski, of the law firm Cohen & Grigsby in Pittsburgh, says that roughly 13% of hospital employees now are part of a union. Moreover, 19% of registered nurses now are unionized, compared to 17% a year ago, in addition to 5.5% of physicians and 8.2% of residents.
Meanwhile, the level of satisfaction among health care employees continues to plummet. Patient acuity for inpatients has increased, while staffing has decreased in many categories, especially nursing.
On top of that, mergers and restructuring have fueled employee insecurity. "Employees fear change and have become relatively insecure," says Lyncheski.
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