US hospitals sued in class action over nurse pay

From Reuters:

Nurses backed by the biggest U.S. health-care union on Tuesday filed four class-action lawsuits against some of the biggest U.S. hospitals, including No. 1 chain HCA Inc., claiming they conspired to depress wages for nurses amid a national shortage.

The lawsuits, which also target the biggest U.S. Catholic hospital system, Ascension Health, charge the hospitals regularly discussed nurses' wages in meetings, over the telephone and in written surveys, in an effort to coordinate and suppress pay.

The suits, filed in federal courts in Chicago; Memphis, Tennessee; Albany, New York; and San Antonio, Texas, seek back compensation and legal costs totaling "hundreds of millions of dollars" under federal antitrust laws.