Human resources leaders ranked strengthening the employee experience and organizational culture as their No. 1 overall priority in 2024. Developing leadership and workforce capabilities was listed as the second-highest priority in a new Conference Board survey. 

Resident physicians and fellows at Stanford Health Care reached a tentative agreement on their first labor contract with the Palo Alto, Calif.-based health system on Dec. 6. 

Earlier this month, Aurora-based Children's Hospital Colorado announced it was scaling back its education benefit program for workers for certain healthcare degrees. Now, the hospital has adjusted its plan for current enrollees after feedback from affected employees.

Members of the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West are set to launch strikes Dec. 20 affecting four Prime Healthcare facilities in Southern California.

Members of the National Nurses Organizing Committee have voted to authorize their nurse bargaining team to call a second strike this year at Saint Louis University Hospital in St. Louis, citing issues such as outsourcing of nurse jobs. 

Nurses at Indianapolis-based Indiana University Health and Methodist hospitals are planning to unionize to address staffing issues, WFYI reported Dec. 8.

Nurses at University Medical Center in New Orleans have voted to join the National Nurses Organizing Committee, an affiliate of National Nurses United.

The union representing nurses at three Ascension hospitals in Texas and Kansas is criticizing the decision to make an in-person children's Christmas concert virtual after its members held one-day strikes.

Nurses at three Ascension hospitals in Texas and Kansas began one-day strikes Dec. 6, marking the second strikes for each hospital this year.

After a five-day strike in November, Providence Regional Medical Center Everett (Wash.) and United Food and Commercial Workers 3000 reached a tentative labor contract Dec. 1.

This year has been marked by labor actions across the U.S. From coast to coast, healthcare workers have participated in strikes, citing concerns about issues such as pay, staffing and recruitment. The strikes have involved workers from large health systems, including a walkout at Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente that was deemed by unions as the nation's largest healthcare worker strike. 

Members of the National Union of Healthcare Workers plan to strike Dec. 6 at the Sutter Center for Psychiatry in Sacramento, Calif.

A group of gig workers who act as patients at Philadelphia-based Thomas Jefferson University want to unionize, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Dec. 4. 

Resident physicians and fellows at McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University, which is on the university's Chicago campus, announced Dec. 1 their efforts to unionize with the Committee of Interns and Residents, a local of the Service Employees International Union.

Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, N.J., and United Steelworkers Local 4-200, which represents about 1,700 nurses at the facility, have reached a tentative agreement on a new labor contract.

Two unions representing caregivers and service workers at University of Rochester (N.Y.) Medical Center's Strong Memorial Hospital and River Campus plan to strike Dec. 13. 

Nurses from HCA Healthcare facilities held a rally on Nov. 30 outside of HCA's West Florida Division Office in Tampa, Fla.

Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, N.J., has spent more than $120 million for replacement nurses during a strike that has lasted more than 100 days and is approaching its fifth month, according to the hospital's website.

Members of the Minnesota Nurses Association have voted no confidence in the CEO of Minneapolis-based Hennepin Healthcare, according to CBS Minnesota.

Members of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East have approved a new labor contract with Northampton, Mass.-based Cooley Dickinson Hospital.