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Nurses on Strike Win Labor Board Ruling

In a departure from its recent trend of ruling against workers, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) decided a case in favor of striking nurses in Minnesota. On October 29, 2004, the board ruled that hospitals could not refuse to hire nurses on a temporary basis who were on strike at another hospital.

Several hospitals, each a single bargaining unit, had negotiated for years as part of a multi-employer bargaining group. In 2001, the hospitals discontinued that and formed an advisory committee. This group then agreed that if the union struck any of them, the other members would refuse to employ any of the striking nurses during the strike. The hospitals negotiated separately with the union. All but one of the hospitals had reached agreements by the strike deadline. In June 2001, the nurses struck at the hospital that did not reach an agreement.

Nurses in the Minneapolis area commonly worked for more than one hospital due to the severe nursing shortage. Once the strike began, the hospitals told their temporary staffing agencies not to refer any of the striking nurses for temporary assignments. When the temp agencies nonetheless sent several striking nurses on assignments, the hospitals sent them home and threatened to sever relations with the agencies. The NLRB decided that the hospitals' refusal to hire the striking nurses was improper because it was meant to influence the outcome of the ongoing dispute.

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