Nurses at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak say their management tried to stop them from forming a union. The group of nurses filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) this week.
The nurses say hospital executives attempted to stop employees from talking about a union. The Charge Against Employer, filed by the Michigan Nurses Association, says Beaumont denied nurses the opportunity to attend meetings with labor consultants.
Mike Weber is a nurse with Beaumont. He wants executives to step back and let nurses make their own decision.
"We're exercising our legal rights to organize and management has used various tactics to stop us. These intimidation tactics are unacceptable, so we believe Beaumont is breaking the law," he says.
Susan Grant is the chief nursing officer for Beaumont Health. She says she's "not aware of that, have not heard that, and we believe these allegations do not have merit and we are operating under National Labor Relations laws."
Grant says the hospital will work with the NLRB, and says, "we respect our employees' rights and our nurses' rights to unionize or not unionize. That is their decision and it's an important decision for them to make."
Grant says the hospital is aware of hundreds of nurses who are not interested in unionizing. She says some of the nurses who do not want to unionize filed an unfair labor practice charge against the Michigan Nurses Association, saying they were discriminated against for not wanting to form a union.
