What should union workers do when their nonunion co-workers come under attack?

When our health care system in Rochester, New York, announced deep cuts to employee health benefits last November, “we started hearing from people right away,” said critical care nurse Carmen Camelio, president of the Rochester Union of Nurses & Allied Professionals. “And not just members.

Two years and six strikes into bargaining—after switching law firms, cancelling negotiation sessions, firing union leaders, and allegedly backing a decertification effort—perhaps it’s dawning on University Medical Center in New Orleans that nurses don’t tire out easily.

On May 1 the nurses held their sixth strike—at five days, the longest yet—and their picket lines keep growing. There was dance music blasting, spontaneous line-dancing, boiled crawfish and jambalaya.