After facing harsh workplace conditions while caring for Covid-19 patients at the height of the pandemic—such as working 24-hour shifts without adequate protective gear—a rising number of healthcare workers are looking to unionize.
In 2021, 13.2% of healthcare workers were unionized (so that’s about 2.4 million people). That number hasn’t changed much in the past 12 years, according to a December 2022 study published in JAMA from Harvard and the University of Washington researchers. But amid “crisis levels” of worker burnout post-pandemic, experts are starting to see an increased interest in unionization!