The National Labor Relations Board has scheduled a public hearing on labor violations at Greenbrier Valley Medical Center in Ronceverte which began on Monday, Sept. 19, in Lewisburg.
This hearing is part of a multi-state trial prosecuted by the NLRB’s General Counsel in response to charges brought by registered nurses affiliated with National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United (NNOC/NNU) for multiple and repeated alleged labor violations at seven hospitals owned by mega hospital chain, Community Health Systems (CHS) including Greenbrier Valley Medical Center (GVMC) in Ronceverte and Bluefield Regional Medical Center (BRMC) in Bluefield. The public hearing on violations at BRMC was held in August.
This trial marks the first time that CHS will be tried as the parent company for labor violations at its hospitals under either the “single employer,” or “joint employer” doctrines of the NLRB. Tennessee-based Community Health Systems/CHS is the nation’s largest for-profit hospital chain, reporting $1.5 billion in profits over the last five years.
CHS has engaged in rampant and serious unfair labor practices at all of the locations named in the consolidated complaint, including terminating RN leaders in a wide-scale attempt to weaken support for the union and forestall reaching initial collective bargaining agreements. The NLRB has upheld numerous unfair labor practice charges filed against the hospitals by (NNOC/NNU) and US District Courts have issued injunctions in response to the employer’s unlawful conduct in contract negotiations with RNs.
In July, in response to an earlier appeal by the NLRB, a federal court ordered BRMC and GVMC to stop blocking a democratic vote by nurses, recognize the nurses’ right to join a union and bargain with them for a first collective bargaining agreement.
