Unions and health care cost inflation

Since the 1974 Taft-Hartley amendments gave nonproprietary hospital employees the right to organize and bargain collectively, the rate of growth of work stoppages has decelerated and the number of man days lost has been reduced. Wage rates, earnings differential, and fringe benefits have not been significantly improved by unionization. And little evidence supports the contention that unionization has contributed substantially to the inflation experienced in the health care industry.