🗞️ Federal Labor Board Orders Oregon Hospital to Bargain with Union Three Years After Election

More than 250 technical workers at Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center in Medford, Oregon voted 128 to 92 on June 8 and 9, 2023, to join the Oregon Nurses Association. The unit included radiologic technologists, licensed practical nurses, respiratory therapists, surgical technologists, and a range of other allied health professionals. The National Labor Relations Board certified the result that October.

What followed was close to three years of legal dispute. Asante refused to recognize the union or bargain with it, declined to furnish information the union requested in connection with its representative duties, and mounted a legal challenge to the certification itself. The hospital's central argument was that union representatives had made campaign speeches to massed assemblies of employees on company time within the 24 hours before the election, conduct the NLRB prohibits under its longstanding Peerless Plywood rule. That rule applies equally to employers and unions and is intended to preserve a period of calm reflection before workers cast their ballots.

The NLRB's regional director rejected that argument when it was first raised, finding that the union's conduct amounted to brief, voluntary conversations rather than organized speeches to assembled workers. The board upheld that finding in September 2024. Asante then continued its refusal to bargain, relying on the standard legal practice of contesting a certification through an unfair labor practice proceeding rather than through the representation process directly.

On June 3, 2026, a three-member panel consisting of Chairman James R. Murphy and Members David M. Prouty and Scott A. Mayer granted the General Counsel's motion for summary judgment. The board found that Asante had presented no new evidence, no newly discovered facts, and no special circumstances that would justify reopening questions already resolved in the underlying representation case. The hospital's attempt to invoke the narrow "extreme circumstances" exception established in Sub-Zero Freezer Co. was rejected; the board noted that the threats to employees and property damage found in that case bear no resemblance to the conduct at issue here.

The board also addressed Asante's refusal to turn over information the union had requested on two separate occasions, in November 2023 and again in October 2024. Information about wages, benefits, and other terms and conditions of employment is presumptively relevant to a union's bargaining function and must be provided on request under established board precedent. Asante offered no substantive basis for withholding it, relying instead on its broader position that the union had not been validly certified.

One narrow question was not resolved. The board declined to rule on Asante's refusal to provide audited and unaudited financial statements, income figures, and budget data. Financial information of that kind does not carry the same presumption of relevance as employment data, and the board held that the General Counsel must make a separate evidentiary showing of need before any disclosure obligation can be established. That issue was remanded to the regional director for further proceedings.

The hospital was ordered to begin bargaining upon request, provide the withheld employment information, and post notice of the violation at its Medford facility for 60 consecutive days. The board also reset the clock on the union's certification period, meaning it will not begin to run until bargaining in good faith commences.

Key Points

• The NLRB ordered Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center in Medford, Oregon to recognize and bargain with the Oregon Nurses Association, close to three years after more than 250 technical workers voted 128 to 92 to unionize on June 8 and 9, 2023.
• Asante argued the union violated the Peerless Plywood rule by making campaign speeches to massed assemblies of on-the-clock workers within 24 hours of the election; that objection was rejected at every level of the NLRB process.
• The board found that Asante's refusal to bargain and to furnish requested employment information violated Section 8(a)(5) and (1) of the National Labor Relations Act.
• The question of whether Asante was required to produce financial statements was remanded for further proceedings, as financial data requires a specific showing of relevance not required for standard employment information.
• The hospital was ordered to post notices of the violation and provide the withheld employment information; the union's certification period will not begin running until good-faith bargaining commences.

Primary Source Author: Chairman James R. Murphy, Member David M. Prouty, and Member Scott A. Mayer

Primary Source: Asante d/b/a Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center and Oregon Nurses Association, 374 NLRB No. 127 (June 3, 2026)

Primary Source Link: https://www.nlrb.gov/case/19-CA-337585

Supplemental Sources

• Asante ordered to recognize 2023 vote by hospital techs, LPNs to unionize — Rogue Valley Times
• Asante Health denied in bid to overturn Medford hospital union vote — The Lund Report
• Technical workers at Asante Rogue Medical Center join nurses union — The Ashland Chronicle
• Hospital techs organize at Medford hospital — NW Labor Press
• Twenty-Four Hour Rule legal definition — USLegal
• NLRB Edge: Board clarifies Peerless Plywood rule in Asante representation case