Nurses Across Michigan Rising Up
Summer led to historic contract wins and a victorious new organizing drive.
Staff report
National Nurse Magazine - July | Aug | Sept 2022 Issue
In a week of voting that concluded on Saturday, Oct. 1, members of the Michigan Nurses Association-University of Michigan Professional Nurse Council (MNA-UMPNC) ratified a new contract that is effective immediately.
The agreement was reached after relentless pressure by nurses at Michigan Medicine and allied community groups. Even after thousands participated in an informational picket, the University of Michigan refused to bargain over staffing ratios, which nurses asserted was an unfair labor practice (ULP). Nurses then had no choice but to file a lawsuit in court demanding the University of Michigan bargain over these ratios and hold an unfair labor practice strike authorization vote. Some 96 percent of nurses chose to authorize a ULP strike. After that strong showing of solidarity and the threat of future action, the University of Michigan finally did the right thing.
The new contract includes enforceable nurse-to-patient ratios that vary by unit to ensure safe patient care, with fines possible if the university does not comply; an end to mandatory overtime except in select emergency situations; and competitive wage increases and retention bonuses.
“This contract provides important investments in nurses and protections for patients that MNA-UMPNC nurses and our community fought hard for over the past six months,” said Renee Curtis, RN, president of MNA-UMPNC. “We’re excited about being able to hold the employer accountable for safe nurse-to-patient ratios and end dangerous mandatory overtime. Strong wage increases and bonuses will help attract and retain the nurses we need to take care of our patients.”
Meanwhile, 450 miles to the north of Michigan Medicine, nurses in Ishpeming, Mich. were also organizing to fight for their patients. Earlier in the summer, nurses at UPHS-Bell filed to form their union with the Michigan Nurses Association. A supermajority had publicly committed to wanting to win a union through a petition, but the results would not be official until after a mail-in election conducted by the National Labor Relations Board.
Ballots were counted on Oct. 4, and the result was unanimous. With an astounding vote of 51-0, nurses at U.P. Health System - Bell voted to form a union with the Michigan Nurses Association.
“Now that we have formed a union, we will get to have a democratic say in our working conditions. The past few years have been difficult, but winning our union gives me hope,” said Callie Ruohomaki, RN. “We are ready to advocate to make improvements so that we can better recruit and retain nurses at our hospital.”
This is the fourth facility of health care workers in the Upper Peninsula that has voted to unionize with the Michigan Nurses Association since the start of the pandemic. Techs and ancillary staff at UPHS-Marquette, nurses at Aspirus Keweenaw Hospital, and health care professionals at the Chippewa County Health Department have all previously voted to unionize with MNA. Unionized health care workers at each of these facilities have been able to win collectively bargained first contracts which improve wages, working conditions, and patient safety.
It is also the second unanimous victory to join MNA that nurses and health care professionals have won in 2022.
“I am just so proud of what we have accomplished together by forming a union,” said Samantha MacIntosh, RN. “We have seen the huge difference that being united as a union has made at other health care facilities across the UP. We’re excited to be able to make that kind of a difference here in Ishpeming as well.”
Now that they have won a union, nurses at UPHS-Bell will soon be able to begin contract negotiations.
“We are proud to welcome the registered nurses at UPHS Bell to our union family," said Stephanie DePetro, RN, vice president of the Michigan Nurses Association, and president of the nurses’ local at UPHS-Marquette. “Duke LifePoint executives have quickly learned how resolved nurses and health care professionals can be when we’re advocating for our patients’ safety. We are ready to support nurses at UPHS-Bell in their fight for a fair contract.”