National Nurses United

MICHIGAN A n overwhelming majority of nurses at Ascension Borgess Hos- pital in Kalamazoo ratified a new contract with their hospital's administration in December. The three-year agreement covers more than 300 registered nurses at the hospital. The new contract was reached after Michigan Nurses Association (MNA) mem- bers at Ascension Borgess passed a resolution authorizing their elected bargain- ing team to call for a strike should it be necessary. "This new contract clearly shows the dif- ference that nurses can make when we are united together as a union," said Lori Bat- zloff, a registered nurse at the hospital and the president of the facility's local bargain- ing unit of the MNA. "We were able to win improvements that will benefit our patients and community as a whole." While the contract was ratified in December, the work to win a fair contract from Ascension began many months earlier. After a series of grueling negotiations in prior contracts, nurses knew that they would need to rebuild their internal struc- ture and take serious action if they were going to be able to effectively push back against the demands of this massive "non- profit" corporation. The first step for RNs was to find new and more effective ways to communicate with one another. The nurses who had been elected to leadership positions within the union wanted to create a culture where members knew how to be actively involved in their union. To do so, they held meetings in each unit of the hospital, created both a paper and digital newsletter, and increased their social media presence. During the summer, Ascension's admin- istration proposed implementing a wage adjustment before bargaining the rest of the contract. The proposal would improve wages, but not by as much as nurses deserved. Wages would also remain below those offered by other area hospitals. Rather than simply accepting what Ascension offered, nurses took the administration's offer back for a vote of the whole member- ship while sharing their concerns that if passed it could lead to lesser gains in negoti- ations. Members rejected the offer by a factor of five to one. By saying no to a small gain, nurses were eventually able to win a much larger one. As negotiations continued, nurses made sure to expand their conversations with one another. The bargaining team held biweekly "second table" meetings at a pub near the hospital, where RNs could learn about nego- tiations and how to become activists in their union. Nurses took advantage of social media to share updates via video about how things were going during bargaining. In addition to sending emails and text mes- sages, they distributed amusing, attention-grabbing flyers throughout the hospital meant to unnerve management as well as inform members. When an informational picket and rally was held the day after their contract expired in November, the street outside the hospital in Kalamazoo was filled with nurses and community members sharing their frustra- tions with Ascension. Elected officials and labor allies attended and spoke to show their solidarity. After that, talks began to move quickly. Following the informational picket and rally, Ascension agreed to withdraw their concessionary proposals demanding that RNs be required to work every other week- end and eliminating all contractually guaranteed leaves. Eager to keep their momentum, nurses moved quickly to hold a strike authorization vote—a step they had not taken since the early 1980s. Ascension moved to settle promptly after members voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike. Highlights of the new deal include a step system based on years of licensure to create wage equity; raises of 20.5 percent in year one of the contract, leading to one of the best pay scales in the state; increased shift differentials, on-call pay, and preceptor pay; new limits to floating RNs to other depart- ments; and strengthened union security such as limits to the hospital's use of tempo- rary RNs. "I am so proud of what we were able to accomplish together as nurses by showing our solidarity and grateful for the amazing support we had from our community," said Doris Goodrich, a nurse at Ascension Borgess and member of the nurses' bargain- ing team. "We hope that this contract will mark the beginning of a new chapter at our hospital and for our patients." —Amelia Dornbush O C T O B E R | N O V E M B E R | D E C E M B E R 2 0 2 2 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 N A T I O N A L N U R S E 5 Kalamazoo nurses win battle for new contract Ascension Borgess RNs avert strike and ratify new pact

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