National Nurses United

MICHIGAN H ospital technologists and ancillary staff at UP Health System– Marquette voted in June to form a union with the Michigan Nurses Association (MNA). The techs won their union with 92 percent voting yes in a 159-13 count. "By voting to form a union, we have won a voice, and we want to use that voice to advocate for our community," said Katlyn Lafrinere, a cardiovascular radiologic tech- nologist. "We are ready to speak up for each other and for what our patients need." This is the third facility of health care workers in the Upper Peninsula that has voted to unionize with MNA since the start of the pandemic. Nurses at Aspirus Keweenaw Hospital and both RNs and health care professionals at the Chippewa County Health Department successfully voted to join MNA within the past year. "The past year of this Covid crisis has really brought us together and shown us how much stronger we are when we are united," said Kerri Beckman, a medical tech- nologist. "We all need each other to keep moving forward. With a union, we will be able to retain quality employees to make sure that we can always provide the kind of patient care our community deserves." Unionized Marquette techs will be join- ing the approximately 400 registered nurses at UPHS Marquette who are also members of MNA. "We are thrilled to welcome techs at UPHS Marquette into our union," said Jamie Brown, RN, president of MNA. "We know that we are strongest when we are united together." "We are so excited that the techs at our hospital have won a collective voice," said Stephanie DePetro, RN, vice president of MNA and president of the local bargaining unit of MNA nurses at UPHS Marquette. "MNA nurses and techs will not be afraid to speak up together to advocate for the well- being and safety of our patients." The contract for nurses will expire in less than a year. Previously, nurses had to go on strike in order to win a fair contract from UPHS Marquette. Both nurses and techs say that they hope that UPHS will not push them to that point during their respective contract negotiations. Meanwhile, registered nurses at Mun- son Medical Center in Traverse City will be receiving an additional $500 in their checks as a result of a $420,500 settlement for a class-action grievance reached between MNA and Munson Medical Center. MNA RNs at Munson ratified the terms of the set- tlement on May 20. The Traverse City Munson Nurses Association is MNA's local bargaining unit at Munson, representing the approximately 1,000 nurses at Munson Medical Center. "We see this as an important step for- ward between Munson administrators and unionized nurses," said Carolyn Moss, a Munson nurse and president of MNA's local bargaining unit at Munson Medical Center (TCMNA). "This puts words into action." The settlement concerned an issue over low census back pay. Nurses allege they were not being appropriately compensated per the terms of their contract when being sent home for low need on scheduled shifts, but later required to return to the hospital and work the remainder of their scheduled shift. In addition to providing back pay, the terms of the settlement additionally strengthened the protections of the nurses' union contract to not allow for ambiguity in scheduling moving forward. "At a time when nurses are exhausted and burned out from the pandemic, it is really important for us to feel like our work is val- ued," said James Walker, a nurse at Munson Medical Center and TCMNA's grievance chair. "We want to be able to recruit and retain nurses at our hospital so that we can always provide the best quality patient care." Munson nurses say that having a strong union contract is key towards achieving that goal. In addition to providing low census protections, the contract has guaranteed RNs wage increases of approximately 13 percent over three years. Nurses were also able to negotiate as a union to win impor- tant protections during the pandemic that they say could have saved lives—like exempting immunocompromised workers from being required to work with Covid-19 patients. "The past year has shown that we are stronger when we are united than when we are divided," said Jason Judd, a nurse at Munson Medical Center and vice president of TCMNA. "We are proud of what we've been able to accomplish collaboratively through negotiations. We want to continue in this direction as we move forward together." —Staff report 12 N A T I O N A L N U R S E W W W . N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G J U LY | A U G U S T | S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 1 NEWS BRIEFS Michigan hospital techs and RNs triumph Techs at UPHS Marquette vote to unionize, Munson Medical Center RNs win big settlement

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