The following is a roundup of recent events pertaining to hospital-union relationships, including strikes, rallies and new contract agreements. All events were reported since the middle of June, starting with the most recent.
1. Union nurses from Worcester, Mass.-based UMass Memorial Health Care, represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association/National Nurses United, sent a letter to administrators protesting staffing cuts they called "degrading" to care quality.
2. About 30 people were arrested after participating in a rally, organized by the Service Employees International Union, outside of UPMC's headquarters in Pittsburgh.
3. Nurses at Ayer, Mass.-based Nashoba Valley Medical Center, part of Boston-based Steward Health Care, voted to join the Massachusetts Nurses Association/National Nurses United.
4. The League of Voluntary Hospitals and Homes, an employer group representing 109 hospitals, nursing homes and other clinics in the New York City area, reached a labor agreement with 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, thus averting a major strike.
5. Service workers at Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins Hospital, members of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, approved a contract after months of contentious negotiations. During talks, union members held a three-day strike and a rally and even threatened to strike again before Gov. Martin O'Malley intervened.
6. Philadelphia-based Chestnut Hill Hospital and Service Employees International Union Healthcare Pennsylvania reached a two-year contract agreement.
7. Registered nurses at Memorial Medical Center in Modesto, Calif., voted against being represented by the California Nurses Association.
8. The contract between SEIU Healthcare Wisconsin and Madison-based University of Wisconsin Hospital expired at the end of June, and due to a state law that ended most collective bargaining for Wisconsin state employees, those UW Hospital workers are no longer represented by the union. In January 2015, the contract between the hospital and the Wisconsin State Employees Union will expire as well.