The Desert Springs contract had now expired. This was a big deal. Under US labor law, when a contract expires, four dangerous things happen: workers can strike; the employer can lock workers out; the employer can stop collecting union membership dues from the workers’ paychecks; and the “permanent window” period for decertifying the union begins. In short, everything escalates. Shutting down dues collection is a major escalation and creates an immediate crisis. It rarely happens. Unions have to fight for contracts that stipulate that the employer deduct union dues from the paychecks of the union members and forward the money to the union. This is the money that keeps things running, and a union can find itself suddenly bankrupt if a large employer stops collecting dues. And a strike, well, a strike is another order of magnitude entirely. And a strike in a hospital, well, that had never happened in the history of Las Vegas.

So when UHS offered a contract extension at Desert Springs, there were compelling reasons to accept. The bargaining, however, was going nowhere. We had lots of workers at negotiations, and they had made detailed proposals. These proposals certainly were not going to make UHS happy, but they were worthy of serious consideration: We had shown that they would improve patient care and that the hospital could afford them. And still, UHS wouldn’t budge. In union-busting literature this is called “creating futility.” On the other hand, we were at 70 percent membership at Desert Springs and 65 percent at Valley, we were building a tight organization, and all the excitement and buzz was in our favor. We rejected the contract extension. It was time to put the workers’ new power into play.