News & Events
Media Advisory: Thousands of nurses to picket UMHS on Saturday
08.11.2011
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Robert Kolt, 517-706-0001 or cell 517-881-4446
Carl Ginsburg, 917-405 1060
THOUSANDS Of NURSES AND SUPPORTERS TO PICKET UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN HEALTH SYSTEM SATURDAY
PATIENT CARE IN JEOPARDY, SAY NURSES - NURSES WORKING WITHOUT A CONTRACT –SOME SAY THEY WILL LEAVE AS WORKING CONDITIONS CLASH WITH QUALITY PATIENT CARE
(Ann Arbor, MI) - More than 1,000 registered nurses, including Deborah Burger, RN, co-president of National Nurses United, will be joined by teachers, local politicians, firefighters, allied unions, community support groups, family and friends, to form an informational picket line at 11:30 a.m., on Saturday, August 13, 2011, outside the front entrance of the University of Michigan Health System (UMHS), 1519 Fuller Road located near Fuller Park in Ann Arbor.
The nurses -- represented by the Michigan Nurses Association/National Nurses United -- are expressing serious concerns about maintaining quality patient care at the top-ranked facility, where patients worldwide come for care. UMHS management refuses to withdraw contract demands that nurses say will erode nursing standards and jeopardize patient care at the hospital, including at soon-to-be-opened
C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital and Von Voitlander Women’s Hospital, facility additions completed at a cost of $760 million. Nurses have been working under an expired contract since June 30.
“The four thousand RNs at UMHS are the backbone of safe, quality patient care. Management proposals -- new cuts and restrictions -- make it harder for us to run our work lives. Some nurses will leave and work elsewhere rather than accept these conditions and UMHS will suffer. Worse, patient care will decline,” said Katie Oppenheim, president of the University of Michigan Professional Nurse Council.
The registered nurses also recently filed a charge with the Michigan Employment Relations Commission alleging that UMHS unlawfully engaged in regressive bargaining, made unilateral changes in working conditions, bargained directly with employees, and refused an employee’s rights to union representation - all violations of the Michigan Public Employment Relations Act.
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The Michigan Nurses Association is the largest, most effective union for RNs in Michigan. As the voice of all registered nurses in Michigan, MNAadvocates for nurses and their patients at the State Capitol, in the community, and at the bargaining table. MNAis a constituent member of National Nurses United and an affiliate of the AFL-CIO.
