Dozens of nurses rallied outside University Medical Center on Tuesday and Wednesday, holding signs and chanting in the July heat as they walked off the job for the fourth time in less than a year. While union members led demonstrations, hospital officials said a majority of scheduled nurses reported to work.
CEO John Nickens, who is departing UMC later this month, estimated the most recent two-day strike cost the hospital about $500,000, far less than earlier projections of $2 million per day. The drop reflects what hospital management said is a growing number of nurses who have continued working during walkouts.
“Almost two-thirds of those scheduled came to work today,” Nickens said Tuesday, the first day of the strike…