On October 3-4, 200 healthcare workers represented by SEIU locals across the county gathered in Miami to wrestle with how to maximize worker power within and across hospital systems as the time to sit at the bargaining table is quickly approaching. The National For-Profit Hospital Workers Council represents 32,000 hospital workers at 70 for-profit hospitals across 13 states from Oregon to Texas.



“I learned a lot at the summit, like the amount our hospitals make and how little we make,” said Shannon Six, a FANS assistant at Largo, FL Medical Center. “Being in a room full of healthcare workers from across the nation was amazing. I met a lot of people and I left knowing that contract negotiations and being in a union are about more than just one person. We have to work as a group to get results.”



Delegates engaged in a robust discussion and came to an agreement on how to better the coordination effort across each corporation.



“It was informative to talk to other people from other parts of the U.S. about what goes on with them with their employers and how to better build our strength by using the ideas we got there from the summit,” said Bob Blair, a nurse at St. Lucie Medical Center “Bargaining is coming up soon so it was exciting to collaborate with so many workers from hospitals across the nation. We’re headed in the right direction to getting a better contract.”



With 26 unionized hospitals in Florida, 1199SEIU is the largest union that represents workers at HCA and Tenet affiliated hospitals in the United States.