Healthcare workers feel cost-cutting pressure

Brooks Memorial Hospital and its largest union reached a tentative contract last week, after five months of talks - but only after a federal mediator was brought in, there was picketing outside the Dunkirk facility and a union voted to authorize a strike. In Niagara County, the jobs of as many as 60 full-time employees are in jeopardy as Eastern Niagara Hospital ended inpatient care at its Newfane site as of Friday. And workers at long-term care facilities have faced layoffs, or uncertain futures, as nursing homes across the region have closed or switched from not-for-profit to private ownership.