(Laina G. Stebbins/Michigan Advance)
BY JON KING, MICHIGAN ADVANCE
MICHIGAN—Nearly 2,700 health care workers at Michigan Medicine voted over the last two weeks to authorize the issuance of notice for a one-day strike.
Represented by SEIU Healthcare Michigan, over 98% of those workers who cast ballots indicated approval for the union’s negotiating committee to issue the notice, according to a press release.
“We had our retirement frozen during COVID, and we had our raises frozen for two years during COVID, and we did that willingly so that we could deliver for our patients,” Kasey Helton, an admissions triage associate, told the Michigan Advance. “But now we’re in a time of institutional gains, and it’s time to restore those benefits to make support workers that are the foundation of this team, to make us whole, to restore what we sacrificed so that we can achieve a fair contract along with all the other workers that have that today.”
The union’s demands include:
- Wage increases that retain workers who worked through the pandemic (and had their retirement and wages frozen in 2020), as well as making sure no worker is paid less than $20/hour.
- Parity with other unionized workers
- Equity so that lower wage workers pay the same percent of their income on health insurance and parking as high-income employees.
Gabby Jones-Casey, director of strategic campaigns for SEIU Healthcare Michigan, said the strike authorization should serve as a wake-up call to health system administrators that the people they rely on are struggling.
“I think at this moment they have an opportunity to do the right thing and ensure that we don’t have workers having to sell plasma to pay their bills, to keep their lights on,” said Jones-Casey. “That we don’t have workers who are working 15, 20, 30, 40 hours of overtime to be able to keep up with the cost of living at a multi-billion dollar organization. I think it is fundamental problem when you have workers who are providing exceptional care and talk about how University of Michigan is a premier institution, and thus they should set the standard much higher for the workers that actually do the work that make them able to say that they are a premier institution for providing of health care services.”
The completed vote authorizes the union to consider a strike. Then when appropriate, members will vote again whether or not to actually go on strike. The are legally required to provide the hospital with a 10-day notice to strike.
In response to the strike authorization, Mary Masson, Michigan Medicine’s senior director of public relations, told the Michigan Advance that they are confident that an agreement can be reached without a work stoppage.
“We are committed to continuing our collaborative discussions with the SEIU bargaining committee members that represent our valued patient care teams and play an important role in health care delivery. Regardless of the vote outcome, patients can continue to expect to receive the same high-quality care at our hospitals and health centers. We are confident in our ability to ensure safe staffing levels,” said Masson.
The workers, which include respiratory therapists, ECMO specialists, phlebotomists, patient care technicians, inpatient unit clerks and clerical staff, formed their union in two stages, with the first unit recognized by the University in July 2023, which began bargaining approximately a year ago. The second unit voted to join in March 2024 and joined in the negotiations.
READ MORE: Michigan unions back Kamala Harris, tout her efforts to help workers
This coverage was republished from Michigan Advance pursuant to a Creative Commons license.
Author
Here’s how many people in Southwest Michigan will lose SNAP benefits in 2025—and the elected politician who made it happen
About 25,000 people in the Holland-Kalamazoo region are waiting to hear if Rep. Bill Huizenga will run for reelection in 2026, after he voted to...
Here’s how many Michiganders in Macomb and Oakland counties will lose SNAP benefits in 2025—and the elected politician who made it happen
The representative who voted to take away food benefits from around 36,000 people in his district plans to run for governor. President Donald Trump...
Here’s how many Michiganders in the Lansing area will lose SNAP benefits in 2025—and the elected politician who made it happen
The representative who voted to take away food benefits from around 23,000 people in his district plans to run for reelection next year. President...
Lawmakers respond as Sandisk pulls out of Mundy Township semiconductor project
BY KYLE DAVIDSON, MICHIGAN ADVANCE MICHIGAN—A California-based company set to utilize a Genesee County megasite for a massive semiconductor project...
Feds pause operations at 3 Michigan Job Corps centers as part of nationwide move
This story has been updated with new information from the city of Detroit and Grand Rapids. The federal government began pausing operations late...
