COVID-19 Cases Lower in Nursing Homes With Union Workers

Nursing homes and long-term care centers were among the facilities hit hardest by the coronavirus pandemic. But a new study found that long-term care facilities that employed union workers fared better than those who employed nonunion workers, Quartz reports.

Researchers compared data from more than 13,000 U.S. nursing homes. They found COVID-19 death rates in nursing homes with a unionized workforce were 10.8% lower than the death rates in nursing homes with nonunionized workers. Unionized workers also were 608% less likely to contract COVID-19 compared to their nonunionized counterparts.

The investigators believe unionized workers may have had the resources to better protect themselves from infection, and in doing so prevented spreading infection to nursing home residents. For instance, many unions fought for access to personal protective equipment (PPE) such as gloves and masks for their workers. Unions also sought paid sick days for their members, so workers could stay home when sick and not spread disease.

Unionized employees may have also been more likely to speak up against hazardous practices without fearing for their jobs or suffering other forms of retribution. In addition, unionized workers with good pay and benefits were less likely to work at multiple nursing homes, reducing the risk of spreading infections from one location to another.

“Unions were fighting to protect nursing home workers,” said Adam Dean, a professor of labor politics at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. “In doing so, they not only lowered worker infection rates, but also brought about benefits for society, namely reducing resident mortality rates.”