University of Massachusetts physicians in training in Worcester have voted to join the Service Employees International Union's Committee of Interns and Residents, according to the Worcester Business Journal.

The COVID-19 vaccination center at Worcester (Mass.) State University will remain operational despite a possible nurses strike at St. Vincent Hospital, the hospital CEO said. 

St. Charles Health System in Bend, Ore., is questioning the legality of a strike notice filed by the union representing 156 technical employees at its Bend hospital campus.

An employee of Ascension St. Mary's Hospital in Rhinelander, Wis., has been suspended and faces multiple charges after his arrest for allegedly recording a patient without consent.

The 800 registered nurses at Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare's St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester, Mass., plan to strike March 8 over staffing and patient care, according to hospital and union statements.

Registered nurses at University of Chicago Medicine Ingalls Memorial Hospital in Harvey, Ill., have approved their first contract, a four-year agreement that includes paid family leave, a commitment from the hospital to hire associate degree nurses and pay increases, the union that represents them said Feb. 22. 

Nurses who work in San Joaquin County's health system in California have agreed to delay a strike that was set to start on Feb. 27.

The union representing 156 technical employees at St. Charles Health System's St. Charles Bend (Ore.) hospital campus filed a strike notice Feb. 22, according to a hospital news release.

Nurses who work in San Joaquin County's health system in California will strike for three days beginning Feb. 27, according to a Feb. 18 union statement. 

Nine cancer physicians at Anne Arundel Medical Center in Annapolis, Md., are suing the hospital after they say it fired them and refused to renew their privileges at the facility, the Capital Gazette reported Feb. 18.

Workers at two Samaritan Health Services hospitals in Oregon have agreed to contracts guaranteeing annual across-the-board raises and paid time off after COVID-19 exposure, the Albany Democrat-Herald reported. 

Heritage Valley Health System, which owns and operates a hospital in Beaver, Pa., must arbitrate  its dispute with a union over whether the hospital breached their collective bargaining agreement by assigning registered nurses to work as patient care assistants, a federal appeals court said in an unpublished opinion.

The following hospital-union events have been reported since Jan. 8:

Ontario, Calif.-based Prime Healthcare has agreed to give workers back pay as part of a settlement with the National Labor Relations Board over allegations brought by Service Employees International Union Local 121RN.

Thousands of registered nurses and other healthcare workers plan to hold events Jan. 27 in more than 19 states and the District of Columbia to urge their employers to put patients first in medical care, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a statement from the union that represents them. 

Workers at Brigham and Women's Faulkner Hospital in Boston will stand out Jan. 26, citing a need for hazard pay and increased staff during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a news release from the union that represents them.

UNC Health Care's Pardee Hospital in Hendersonville, N.C., faces a federal discrimination lawsuit alleging the facility created a racially hostile work environment for a Black woman, WLOS reported.  

Kapiolani Medical Center for Women & Children in Honolulu reached a tentative contract agreement with Hawaii Nurses Association OPEIU Local 50, averting a possible strike, according to Hawaii News Now. 

Hospitals and long-term care facilities in the U.S. are offering healthcare workers hesitant to get the COVID-19 vaccine incentives, The New York Times reported.

Nurses at Kapiolani Medical Center for Women & Children in Honolulu have authorized their bargaining committee to call a strike, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported.