A federal court has ordered two West Virginia hospitals 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.

Acting on a request from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals issued the order on July 18 to Bluefield Regional Medical Center (BRMC) and Greenbrier Valley Medical Center (GVMC), both owned by Community Health Systems (CHS).

Earlier in the month, the NLRB found merit to a number of charges brought by National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United against the Bluefield and Fairlea hospitals.

The labor board is asking that BRMC restore its anesthesia department and reinstate the certified RN anesthetists who were fired when the department was restructured under the management of a subcontractor and that both hospitals rescind what the union claims are "unlawful changes to nurses' terms of employment" and reimburse the nurses for losses incurred. In addition, the NLRB asks that GVMC restore relief charge nurse duties that were allegedly unlawfully removed.

Public hearings are being held in multiple states — including West Virginia — as part of a trial prosecuted by the NLRB's general counsel against seven CHS-owned hospitals. Hearings will be held near each of the hospitals where the violations allegedly occurred.

BRMC's hearing will be held in Princeton beginning Monday, while GVMC's hearing is scheduled to begin Sept. 19 at a site to be announced later.

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