In charges filed with the National Labor Relations Board, the union contends that the hospital unlawfully offered terms and conditions of employment directly to its employees without first bargaining over those terms and conditions with the employees’ representatives, and that the hospital has illegally interrogated, threatened and coerced employees to try and dissuade them from exercising their right to strike.

An estimated 800 to 1,000 nurses began walking picket lines at 7:00 a.m. to protest the hospital’s failure to bargain in good faith for a new labor agreement. The nurses had been working under an extension of their old contract, which expired on June 30.

The failure to bargain in good faith, coupled with the hospital’s other violations of federal law, have obstructed efforts to improve conditions at the hospital, especially their inadequate healt