MARQUETTE, MI-- A California company is recruiting nurses to work at a Michigan hospital should a strike occur the first week of October, but it will not confirm the hospital is UPHS Marquette.
On its web page, HealthSource Global Staffing says it’s looking for Michigan-licensed RNs in all specialties to start work on October 5. That’s the same date the 400 nurses of the UPHS Marquette RN Staff Council said they intended to strike. They say patient welfare is suffering because too few nurses are being overworked.
The RNs have been working without a contract since late July.
HealthSource Global is offering $65 to $70 an hour for replacement nurses, along with reimbursement for housing and mileage or airfare.
WLUC-TV reports that in a statement hospital spokesman Victor Harrington said, “We are securing fully-qualified staff to replace those who go on strike and are attending to every detail in preparation for this event. As always, delivering quality care and services to our patients will remain our primary focus, and we will not allow anything to stand in the way of providing the best for our community.”
Scott Balko is President of the RN Staff Council. In response to the recruitment effort he said, “These wages are more than double what UPHS Marquette nurses earn. It is appalling that Duke LifePoint would invest that money in temporary help and not in its staff, and its ability to care for the patients at its own hospital.”
Nurses and UPHS administration are bargaining through the end of September
