Some nurses at the MyMichigan Medical Center in Alma weren’t allowed to return to work on Monday morning.
This comes after a three-day strike where the nurses protested the hospital for what they call "unfair labor practices." They were also advocating for a new union contract — something that's been expired since February. After 16 bargaining sessions, no agreement has been made yet.
“We won’t let ourselves be bullied into an unfair contract,” said Sarah Weber, a registered nurse and member of the bargaining team. “MyMichigan wants us to accept what’s essentially a pay cut – we’d be doing the same work for less."
With rising prices on gas and groceries, Weber said nurses aren't on board with that proposal.
Shenan Shinabarger is the president of the local nurses' union. After the nurses gave the hospital a two-week strike notice, Shenan said nurses were being unfairly treated.
She said nurses were being transferred to different departments and weren’t allowed to trade shifts amongst each other.
The nurses also say the hospital broke their contract by refusing paid time off accruals on weekends.
“They've committed these actions that have broken the law,” Shinabarger said and that the union filed unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board.
MyMichigan did not comment on those charges, but they told WCMU in a written statement that although they were disappointed by the strike notice, they still remained committed to reaching an agreement.
Shinabarger said the nurses union was worried MyMichigan's contract proposal would cause many nurses to resign.
“We're advocating for our patients and ourselves,” Shinabarger said. “We want MyMichigan to respect the work that we do.”
Erica Vincent, a registered nurse at MyMichigan Alma, said nurses were expecting to return to work and get paid as normal after the strike ended on Monday, July 6.
But the hospital called off nearly 25% of nursing staff, Vincent said, claiming there weren’t enough patients.
“We feel like this is kind of retaliation from the hospital,” Vincent said.
The nurses were told patients wouldn’t be affected by the strike and hospital operations would run as normal.
“We watched them transfer several patients out over the last week instead of admitting to the floors,” Vincent said. “They kind of created this by having units closed. We really feel like that was kind of directed at us and not to create the situation where we weren't able to come back.”
MyMichigan told WCMU in a statement that their decision to call-off some nurses Monday was not related to the strike and that they adjust staffing levels to the fluctuation of patients.
In a news release, administrators from MyMichigan thanked the community and hospital staff for their help during the strike.
“The collaboration we witnessed throughout this experience was remarkable. Employees from across MyMichigan Health worked alongside Alma caregivers to support patient care and maintain operations,” said Marissa Palmer, the chief nursing officer for MyMichigan Health.
Nurses who weren’t able to return to work on Monday continued to picket outside the hospital until the hospital staffed more nurses.
Vincent said the union and hospital have not yet made an agreement following the strike.
“The balls is in their court, but we are ready and willing and able and we just want to get a fair contract for all of us nurses here,” Vincent said.
MyMichigan said they are committed to reaching a fair agreement with the nurses.
