The email we all received from management yesterday tried to paint a rosy picture of their current proposals, but conveniently left out the 101 concessions they are demanding in addition to their wage proposals still not going far enough.
Here are just a few of the concessions they have proposed that would gut our contract:
A LIMIT of 48 hours per year for use of incremental PTO
Punitive additions to the Attendance Process
Removal of the ability for MNA-UMPNC to be involved in work redesign decision making
Allowing greater ability to eliminate nurse positions both permanently and temporarily
Eliminating language in the agreement to follow progressive discipline
These are in addition to many, many other take-away proposals
Turnover is a growing problem at Michigan Medicine that has been rapidly draining our pool of experienced nurses. According to the University’s data, 65 out of the 89 nurses hired into our bargaining unit in June 2022 are coming in either as a graduate nurse or with little to no experience.
Experienced nurses leaving and being replaced by new graduates is not an equal trade when looking at the workforce. When seasoned nurses leave, so does their experience, knowledge, proficiency and the ability to mentor new nurses. We welcome and are thrilled at the opportunity to mentor new nurses at our institution; however, the employer’s inability to see and retain valuable experienced nurses is an insult to our profession and a detriment to patient safety.
While US News and World Report have Michigan Medicine listed as #1 in the State of Michigan, management believes staffing in the 75th percentile or a “C” grade is “good enough” even though our acuity is the highest in the state and the census rate trends towards 100% occupancy daily.
We know that the employer’s definition of “good enough”
is NOT acceptable for safe patient care.
We deserve better, our patients deserve better,
and we are ready to fight for better.
Join the fight and Pledge either to Picket on July 16 or to wear red in the hospital if you’re working at MNA-UMPNC.org/picket. We need ALL of us standing in solidarity to show management that we will not settle for less.