11.       Nurse Unions Try to Address Shortage Concerns

A new trend is becoming common in the health care workforce: unionization.  According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of health care medical workers represented by some form of collective bargaining agreement or registered as union members is increasing.  This trend is in response to hospital cutbacks on expenses in response to the economic downturn as well as uncertainty about health care reform.

In general, union membership in the United States has been declining, according to data collected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  In 1979, union membership peaked at nearly 21 million members, or 24.1% of workers.  By 2009, union membership dropped 15.3 million members, or 12.3% of all employees.

However, union membership in the category of "Healthcare Practitioner and Technical Occupations" is growing instead.  This category includes physicians, dentists, veterinarians and various categories of therapists and technicians. Within this category, registered nurses and other non-physician field have seen the most unionization.

In 2000, about 12.9% of the health care workforce, or 693,000 workers, were union members.  In 2009, these number of health care worker union members rose to 13.6%, or 962,000 workers.  Most unionization is among hospital employees; there are almost no union members in physician offices.

Unionization seems to be especially popular with nurses as the nursing shortage continues to grow, and nurses face longer hours and increased patient loads.  In December 2009, the California Nurses Association, the National Nurses Organizing Committee, the Massachusetts Nurses Association, and United American Nurses merged to become the 150,000-member National Nurses United; this is the largest registered nurse union in the country. The organization is affiliated with the AFL-CIO.

Because of the economic recession, hospital CEOs tried cutting costs, which included hiring freezes and layoffs.  The field most affected by the cost-cutting was nursing.  Nursing unions, therefore, pay close attention to maintaining staff-patient ratios so that patients do not suffer and nurses are not overworked.