Medical workers at Prime Healthcare's Encino (Calif.) Hospital Medical Center have elected to unionize, according to hospital and SEIU 121RN officials.

Unionized healthcare workers are urging executives at State College, Pa.-based Mount Nittany Health System not to go through with 250 planned layoffs spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic, statecollege.com reports.

A union of more than 97,000 healthcare workers is pressing El Segundo, Calif.-based Verity Health System to find a new buyer for its 384-bed hospital in Lynnwood, Calif., mynewsla.com reports.  

A union representing 42,000 nurses in New York state is urging several hospitals to provide COVID-19 data on healthcare workers, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Nurses at Blake Medical Center in Bradenton, Fla., protested July 3, saying working conditions are unsafe as COVID-19 cases spike in the state, according to MedPage Today.

As negotiations over a new labor contract stalled, more than 700 nurses walked off the job July 4 at Amita Health Saint Joseph Medical Center Joliet (Ill.), according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

The union representing nurses at Amita Health Saint Joseph Medical Center in Joliet, Ill., is accusing hospital officials of violating state permitting regulations by recruiting out-of-state nurses to replace striking ones during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Black healthcare workers staged a demonstration June 26 at Sutter Health's Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Oakland, Calif., after a white nurse was accused of posting racist comments against the Black Lives Matter movement on her Facebook page, KNTV reports.

Employees at Columbia Memorial Hospital in Astoria, Ore., are urging hospital administration to use federal relief money to bring back workers who were furloughed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Daily Astorian.

Mass General Brigham nurses at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston are calling on the hospital to improve the safety of its shuttle buses by enforcing a capacity limit for nurses and other staff members.  

Citing staffing and safety concerns, registered nurses plan to strike for 10 days beginning June 26 at Riverside (Calif.) Community Hospital, according to the union that represents them.

Nurses who work at Amita Health Saint Joseph Medical Center in Joliet, Ill., have issued a 10-day strike notice and could walk off their jobs as early as July 4, according to the union that represents them.

A regional director with the National Labor Relations Board has issued a complaint alleging Shore Medical Center in Somers Point, N.J., took unfair actions against nurses during contract negotiations, NJ Advance Media reports.

Edison, N.J.-based Hackensack Meridian Health has reached a tentative contract agreement with about 300 nurses at Southern Ocean Medical Center in Manahawkin, N.J.

Nurses at Valencia, Calif.-based Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital held a rally June 20 to protest recent layoffs and call for more safety measures, reports radio station KHTS. 

Citing staffing and safety concerns, registered nurses at Riverside (Calif.) Community Hospital have issued a strike notice, according to the union that represents them. 

Ann Arbor-based Michigan Medicine and the union representing 1,300 of its interns, residents and fellows have reached a new three-year agreement.

Over the past several years, we have witnessed increasing adoption of text messaging as an essential communication channel for hospitals and health systems as well as many other types of healthcare providers. For those organizations with texting technology, they are finding that this is a time when the value and effectiveness of the resource truly shines.

Becker's Hospital Review reported the following hospital-union events since June 3.

Nurses at West Hills (Calif.) Hospital & Medical Center protested June 18 what they say is understaffing and inadequate personal protective equipment at the facility, according to The Press-Enterprise.