ROCHESTER, Mich. – A chorus of car horns greeted the nearly 400 members of OPELU Local 40 who walked off the job at 7 a.m. over what they are calling unfair labor practices.
“The nurses are here to show the hospital that we’re serious,” Dina Carlisle, the union’s President, said.
The nurses want more money and a nurse-to-patient ratio that ensures everyone’s safety.
It’s a battle that dates back nearly two years to a dispute with the hospital’s former owner, Ascension Healthcare.
“I had high hopes in October when Henry Ford came in that we would settle this contract and let this community have a beautiful hospital in their midst. Now, I find that Henry Ford is more of a union buster than ascension ever claimed to be.”
Union President Dina Carlisle
One of the biggest concerns is that nurses feel the nurse-to-patient ratio is unstable and jeopardizes patient care.
“If you have too heavy of a load, you’re not checking patients to see if they’re bleeding, you’re not checking to see if patients or learning how to take care of their newborn.
These are things that have always been, something that nurses take great pride in teaching and being with patients when they’re being born, when they’re passing, supporting the family. And when you’re two, you’ve got too many tasks to complete in that time; things get missed is very, it’s very dangerous.”
Janice Matthews, a nurse at Henry Ford Rochester
The hospital states that it staffs its hospitals based on patient volumes and other factors and that mandated staffing ratios hinder its ability to adapt to varying patient conditions.
The two sides are also at odds over what the union claims is bad faith bargaining and alleges that they are being retaliated against.
In a statement, the hospital said:
“Henry Ford Rochester hospital has a process in place to ensure our units are staffed in a way that provides the safe, high-quality care patients deserve.”
The strike itself is set to last three days and end on Thursday, a move intended to put pressure on the hospital.
“The strategy is to provide an additional incentive for the employer to make concessions in order to reach an agreement,” Dr. Marick Masters, Prof. Emeritus at Wayne State University’s Mike Ilitch School of Business.
“A longer-term strike puts the union in extreme jeopardy because it’s very difficult for workers to stay out on strike, to be without pay for an extended period of time.”
The hospital has taken the step of bringing in replacement nurses to cover the shifts of the nurses who are on strike until Saturday morning, which has led to another word being tossed around.
“This is a lockout,” Cari Make no mistake, this is a lockout. They are using replacement nurses who are not part of this bargaining unit and who don’t have the same commitment and the same experience in this hospital for our patients. So that’s very concerning alone."
In response to the claims of a lockout, Henry Ford Rochester said:
“We would have preferred to have our nurses working in our hospital, but they were unwilling to provide us with any assurances they would provide care for our patients. As a result, we were forced to make difficult decisions about staffing and needed to make patient care our priority. We look forward to welcoming them back to work.”
