Filing 139 petitions, the Service Employees International Union was the most active union in organizing employees in the healthcare sector in 2015, according to IRI Consultants and the American Society for Healthcare Human Resources Administration's latest report on healthcare labor activity in the U.S.
Below are four additional findings from the report.
1. Compared to the last decade, unions recorded an "above average" year in 2015 for elections that resulted in union representation of healthcare workers, prevailing in 75 percent of the 257 elections held last year, the report found. However, there were just 31 decertification elections held in 2015, and unions maintained recognition as a result of just 39 percent of elections held.
2. The majority of organizing activity in healthcare occurred in just six states — New York, California, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Washington and New Jersey.
3. The United Food and Commercial Workers, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the International Union of Journeymen and Allied Trades were among the top most-active unions in the healthcare sector in 2015.
4. In the past 10 years, more than half of U.S. states have not seen a strike in healthcare, while California has had more than seven times the number of strikes as the next highest state — Connecticut, according to the report.
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