MARQUETTE, MI-- UPHS-Marquette nurses and administration will continue to negotiate a new contract, despite the RN’s vote to authorize a strike, if necessary.
The locally elected bargaining team under the Michigan Nurses Association was given the go-ahead Tuesday night, although both sides hope it doesn’t come to that.
The nurses say short-staffing and long shifts have put the patients under their care in danger. Last week the union filed a report allegedly detailing hundreds of incidents of unsafe patient care with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.
U.P. Health System Regional Director of Marketing and Business Development Victor Harrington released a response Wednesday to the strike vote. It says:
“The Michigan Nurses Association reportedly worked very hard to convince an undisclosed number of UP Health System Marquette employees to vote in the affirmative in yesterday’s strike authorization vote.
"Notwithstanding the reported result of that vote, we are encouraged by the many employees who have expressed their opposition to this tactic by the MNA, and who are dismayed by the Union’s recent public attacks that portray their hospital in such an inaccurate, inflammatory, and damaging light.
"We presently are scheduled to negotiate with the MNA through the end of September, and we remain optimistic that those negotiations will eventually conclude with a collective bargaining agreement that meets the needs of all parties.
During this time, as always, you may rest assured that our first priority is the delivery of high quality, compassionate care to those we serve.”
Nurses have been working without a contract for more than a month.
Bargaining sessions are scheduled through September.
