With regard to any hospital operated by a county, a county board may transfer, sell or lease such hospital, pursuant to an ordinance or resolution, to a responsible corporation, hospital, health care facility, unit of local government or institution of higher education on such terms and under such conditions as the county board deems appropriate. At least 10 days prior to the adoption of an ordinance or resolution under this Section, the county board shall make the proposed ordinance or resolution conveniently available for public inspection and shall hold at least one public hearing thereon. Notice of this hearing shall be published in one or more newspapers published in the county, or if there is none published in the county, in a newspaper having general circulation in the county, at least 10 days prior to the time of the public hearing. Such notice shall state the time and place of the hearing and the place where copies of the proposed ordinance or resolution will be accessible for examination.
     In the event that prior to the sale or lease of the hospital pursuant to this Section, a labor organization has been recognized by the hospital as the exclusive representative of the majority of employees in a bargaining unit for purposes of collective bargaining, and in the further event that a purchaser or lessor subject to the National Labor Relations Act retains or hires a majority of the employees in such a bargaining unit, such purchaser or lessor shall recognize the labor organization as the exclusive representative of the majority of employees in that bargaining unit for purposes of collective bargaining, provided that the labor organization makes a timely written assertion of its representational capacity to the purchaser or lessor.