Dive Brief:
- Hospitals have become a major target for labor unions because of their size, their inability to outsource labor and continued pressure to reduce costs, Healthcare Finance News reports.
- Due to a new National Labor Relations Board rule that went into effect this spring, hospital administrators may now have less than two weeks to counter union claims as to the benefits of employee organization.
- As more and more healthcare workers consider unionization, hospitals need to be aware that there are ways to avoid conflict with labor unions.
Dive Insight:
Experts say that the way employees are treated, rather than wages, is what most motivates employees to unionize. And the best way to keep that from happening is to not give employees any reason to organize in the first place. "There's always a triggering incident," Jim Trivisonno, president of IRI Analytics, told Healthcare Finance News. "People don't vote for a union because of wages and benefits. They vote for a union because of dignity and respect or lack thereof."
"I've had union campaigns start because employers wouldn't fix the microwave," said David Rittof, president and CEO of Modern Management, Inc. "Unions do not drive wages, the market drives wages."
Hospitals also need to be prepared to negotiate in good faith if a union does form. Some of the things they can do to prepare include having a plan in place for responding to a union petition, conducting an organizational vulnerability assessment and working to fix any issues in advance, treating employees with respect and creating an active problem-resolution process for employees.