The healthcare industry has been the single most vigorous creator of jobs in the country in recent years. And healthcare has created a range of jobs, from hourly janitorial gigs to middle-class nursing positions to upper-middle class physicians and executives, to CEOs paid millions of dollars a year.
Many of the non-managerial jobs not only pay well, but are unionized. While unions have been slowly worn down and out in the automotive, aerospace and other sectors, they have become quite healthy, if not robust, in healthcare. The California Nurses Association, for example, was key to getting a staffing ratio mandate signed into law and surviving voluminous legal battles about a decade ago. Healthcare labor unions stage walkouts and work slowdowns on an ongoing basis throughout the country these days.
HENRY KOTULA 