The overlooked role of unions in healthcare quality research

Marina Durano’s column highlights research that shows that unions are beneficial for staffing ratios and improving the working conditions of health care workers. Healthcare research also recognizes that staffing ratios and working conditions are important for ensuring that patients receive quality care. Nonetheless, because the union research appears in journals devoted to labour studies, health-focused research has not engaged with the research showing the benefits of unions for care.

…the activists and labour researchers also need to reach out to other research communities, such as clinician-researchers and epidemiologists, who do not typically acknowledge labour unions within their milieu, leading to a failure to recognise the role of key actors in the ecosystem of health and care settings.

Marina Durano

Marina Durano is a feminist economist affiliated with the Care Economies in Context project. The Global Labour Column is an outreach tool of the Global Labour University and her specific column belongs to “Centring Care Work: Debates, Strategies, and Policies for a Transformative Future,” an ongoing series by the Global Labour Column.