Update: Friday, January 26, 2024
Nurses at ProMedica Hickman Hospital in Adrian will stage a "practice strike" on Tuesday, January 30, in what they say is a "final warning" to the health system.
It's not a work stoppage — nurses aren't walking off the job just yet. But they will demonstrate outside the hospital to protest contract offers they say would create "a two-tier retirement system" and "offer wages that are below what other area hospitals are paying."
The health system is putting profits above patients, the Michigan Nurses Association said in a press release Thursday:
"Additionally, ProMedica executives refuse to turn over financial information that nurses assert they are legally required to provide. The most recently available 990s from December of 2022 show that ProMedica paid its CEO over $5.4 million. The 990s also show that hospital executives receive bonuses based on 'profitability.' This particular ProMedica facility has repeatedly netted the system millions in profits, including more than $9.2 million in 2022 and more than $28.8 million in 2021."
A spokesperson for ProMedica said calling the upcoming demonstration a strike of any kind is "misleading."
"If a strike were to occur, our nonprofit hospital would work diligently to ensure our action plans support our commitment to providing safe, high-quality care to the community.
...This week, the nonprofit hospital made modifications to the already fair and market-competitive proposal it provided on January 9. We hope the MNA bargaining team shares the modified proposal with its members before it expires on January 29.
Over the past several months, we have engaged in good-faith bargaining and responded to several data requests. We have provided the financial information that the law requires us to provide, given our bargaining position. MNA also has access to publicly reported financial information."
Original post: Tuesday, January 16, 2024:
Nurses at ProMedica Charles and Virginia Hickman Hospital in Adrian have overwhelmingly voted to authorize a potential strike, after months of contract negotiations have left the union and the hospital in a standoff, the union said Tuesday.
The union would still have to provide ProMedica with a 10-day notice before beginning a strike.
Union leaders representing the roughly 140 nurses at Hickman (formerly Bixby and Herrick hospitals) said that despite ongoing staffing shortages, the hospital’s salary and retirement offers continue to be below market value.
“We can’t recruit or retain nurses if you could go 45 minutes in any direction and get better pay, with better benefits and retirement [benefits.] That’s just common sense,” said Tracy Webb, president of the local union and a critical care nurse. “We all have friends who have left. ... It’s ludicrous.”
ProMedica declined to make a representative available for an interview Tuesday, citing ongoing arbitration. In an emailed statement, a spokesperson said the hospital’s leadership has been negotiating in good faith with the union since September, and offered nurses a “best and final” contract last week “which was fair and market competitive.”
“Today, hospital leaders were notified by MNA that its member nurses working at the not-for-profit hospital voted in favor of a strike authorization," the statement said.
"If a strike were to occur, we would work diligently to ensure our action plans support our commitment to providing safe, high-quality care. … To be clear, we fully expect the not-for-profit hospital to remain open and continue serving the community. For the best health outcomes, it is important that patients in need seek care immediately.”
But the union, which is part of the Michigan Nurses Association, has also filed unfair labor practice charges against the hospital. They claim that in September, administrators told nurses they weren’t allowed to pair their blue scrubs with anything bearing the MNA insignia – including lanyards, buttons, or pins, Webb said.
The charges also allege that since the nurses contract expired on December 31, the hospital “unilaterally changed its overtime policy and procedure” in the obstetrics unit. And since last week, the hospital’s lawyers have “refused to provide relevant and necessary financial information … after the employer asserted an inability to pay” during bargaining, according to the union’s filing.
ProMedica has 12 acute care hospitals in northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan.
