[rbg246]

I don't know about US unions but work safety is the bread and butter of unions in Australia.

[mjangle1985]

Collective wage and benefit bargaining tends to be the main focus of many unions. I'd say in the instance of this particular Nurses Union the union also advocated well and often for the safety of their nurses. So yes they do ensure worker safety but I don't think it's thought of as much as collective bargaining.

[rbg246]

But remember collective bargaining isn't just how much per hour you earn, it's also how many hours in a day you work, how many days a week you work.

It's also when you can retire, whether you get a pension.

In addition but very importantly how much effort does your employer need to put into keeping its employees safe.

These were work conditions that were first collectively bargained for before unions then lobbied governments to enact them into law

I just did a quick search on US workplace safety ( I assumed you were US sorry if I guessed wrong).

https://www.osha.gov/data/commonstats

Worker deaths have halved since workplace safety came into play in 1970, this wouldn't have been enacted if left up to companies as it is much cheaper to find an uninjured worker than it is to implement safe working conditions (I'm generalising obviously but I think it holds). It would have been heavy collective bargaining from unions that made this happen.

Also thank you for sharing the original story it was a really interesting anecdote.