In search of job security and a voice in health-care reform, a growing number of workers at hospitals, nursing homes, and rehabilitation facilities are joining labor unions.
Hospital workers filed 158 petitions for union elections in 1993, up from only 19 in 1989, according to a study by Management Science Associates, Inc, a labor consulting firm. And unions won 58% of health-care elections in 1993the highest win rate in the industry since 1984, according to Modern Health Care, an industry journal.