Members of Office and Professional Employees International Union Local 40 began a strike June 9 at Henry Ford Rochester (Mich.) Hospital.
Six things to know:
1. The strike involves approximately 350 nurses, according to the hospital, and is slated to continue until 6:59 a.m. EDT on June 14. While nurses had voted to strike for three days, hospital officials informed the union nurses could not resume their duties until June 14. The union contends the hospital is illegally locking out the nurses, according to the union in a Facebook post.
2. Henry Ford Rochester will remain open during the strike and has brought in workers from an outside agency to staff the facility. Moreover, hospital officials cited contract requirements as the reason for extending the length of the union nurses’ work stoppage, according to the Detroit Free Press. “We are not ‘locking out’ striking nurses. Because of the strike, we had to contract outside labor through June 14 to ensure there is no disruption to patient care or operations,” said the spokesperson to the Free Press.
3. The strike comes after the union issued a May 29 strike notice, according to the hospital. Both sides have been in negotiations since the hospital became part of Detroit-based Henry Ford Health on Oct. 1.
4. In a June 6 statement, Henry Ford Rochester said the offer on the table for nurses “reflects our commitment to nurses across our health system and our respect for their unique, professional experience. Our offer includes competitive wages and benefits, while ensuring safe staffing and a sustainable financial future for our hospital. We believe strongly that the offer we’ve made to our nurses is a fair, competitive and thoughtful investment in our future together.”
5. The union contends that the hospital has engaged in bad-faith bargaining and said nurses seek wage increases and staffing ratios, according to the Free Press.
“First and foremost, we stand for safe staffing,” Dina Carlisle, RN, OPEIU Local 40 president, said in a statement to the Free Press. “Nurse burnout due to understaffing accounts for a large percentage of the 50,000 RNs who are licensed but not practicing in Michigan. The solution is clear: assure the safety of our community and recruit and retain quality nurses by establishing guaranteed staffing minimums.”
6. A hospital spokesperson said that, to their knowledge, this is the first strike in Henry Ford Health’s 110-year history.
