UNAC Gains 2,600

The largest nursing unit ever organized at one time under the National Labor Relations Act voted to join AFSCME's United Nurses Associations of California (UNAC/NUHHCE). The 2,600 RNs at Sharp Healthcare in San Diego chose UNAC, by a margin of 1,114 to 622.

Sharp is slated to be purchased by Columbia/HCA, the largest for-profit health care provider in the U.S. That may mean a tough fight getting the first contract, given the company's past anti-union practices. At its flagship Audubon Hospital in Louisville, Ky., the National Labor Relations Board ordered the company to bargain after finding that Columbia/HCA had committed wholesale unfair labor practices.