The Right to Strike vs. the Right to Care

Abstract

This article addresses the struggle between hospitals and the nurses who are entrusted to care for the patients. In December, several thousand nurses staged a strike in hospitals throughout California. In New York, the threat of strikes recently passed, at least for now. Last month in Riverside County, California, a Judge issued an eleventh-hour injunction to avert a walkout. Without opining on the propriety of nursing unions or collective bargaining in the United States, this article raises the need to balance the demands of hospital patients who have a functional right to health care with the legal entitlement on the part of nurses who wish to participate in strikes as a lawful exercise of collective bargaining rights.