It’s been six months after Registered Nurses and the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United filed a complaint with the California Department of Public Health regarding sweeping and pervasive patient care problems at the University of California Davis Medical Center in Sacramento.

The last thirty-five years have been disastrous for American unions. The percentage of the workforce represented by unions has declined from about 30% to barely 10%. As the unionized island in the center of the workforce has shrunk, every element of labor relations affected by unions – job security, promotions and lay-off, job descriptions, wages and benefits (pensions, vacations, health care, etc.), grievance procedures, attention to safety – has slid away from workers. There has been a similar deterioration in union influence in electoral politics and public debate about key issues.

Drenched by morning storms, nurses across the Twin Cities were putting down their picket signs and getting ready to head back to work -- although they didn't know whether they'd be allowed to return. "We will go in en masse," said Glenda Cartney, who was with dozens of other nurses striking outside United Hospital in St. Paul at 6 a.m. Friday.