The Problem
Transforming hospital jobs and making them sustainable for workers and the economy will require workers to have a voice and increased bargaining power. Workers are entitled to form unions and collectively bargain for better wages and conditions without fear of discrimination from their employers. Nevertheless, healthcare workers often find that hospitals and other healthcare employers, even nonprofit ones, repeatedly violate their right to unionize. While they have sought relief before the National Labor Relations Board, they have not always been successful.
Legislators and the public have the right to expect cooperation from nonprofit or other publicly supported hospital systems when workers choose to organize. State legislators must step up to support and elevate workers’ efforts to improve their labor conditions.
The Solution
To strengthen workers’ rights to organize, states can pass and enforce labor peace laws. If the state or local government is funding a local project or facility, the state can require the operator of the project or facility to enter into labor peace agreements and abide by certain labor obligations. These can include:
- Requiring an employer to recognize a union based on signed cards, rather than by the results of a full union election;
- Requiring the employer to remain neutral and not express negative opinions or preferences about union organizing; and
- Requiring the employer to allow workplace access to union organizers.
With many nonprofit and publicly supported hospitals, the state can intervene in this way to ensure that healthcare workers are able to organize their workplaces and seek fair compensation for their work.