Boston centers plan for unionization drive

Academic medical centers in the Boston area are preparing themselves for an aggressive unionization drive led by SEIU Local 1199. The Boston Globe reports that providers are studying the healthcare union's fight with Yale-New Haven hospital to get a sense of what the union's tactics are likely to be. The group was able to delay plans for Yale-New Haven's cancer center by months with an aggressive "corporate style" marketing campaign including billboards criticizing the hospital's billing practices and mocking management. Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center's Paul Levy comments dryly, ''What kind of healthcare service union would stand in the way of a cancer center in New England? That strikes me as the kind of union we don't want."

- read this article from Boston.com

PLUS: The Keene Group, a peddler of "union avoidance" products and services, has launched a Web site designed specifically for the healthcare industry. Expect employers and unions to take great interest. Article