ABSTRACT
Hospital administrators and trustees have expressed concern over the rapid increase of unionization of hospital employees. “The hospital working force is a rich, new source of dues-paying union members, if it can be developed,” an industrialist told a group of hospital administrators at one of the 1959 hospital conventions. The pathway to unionization in the hospital field started basically with federal employees, progressed to state, municipal, and proprietary employees, and finally reached those in the nonprofit sector, the only sector previously exempt from labor laws, except in states which had passed such legislation. Hospital trustees and administrators have been deeply concerned about the possible effects of unionization upon already difficult hospital operations and, with several exceptions, they have opposed the organization of hospital workers. Ronald L. Miller believes that, as a method of resolving disputes, the strike is basically inconsistent with both the economic characteristics and the service objectives of hospitals.
