by
Nearly 90 percent of the 10,000 registered nurses at Corewell Health East, formerly Beaumont Health, voted to authorize a strike if an agreement is not reached, the nurses' union announced Tuesday. No strike deadline has been set.
The nurses, across nine hospitals and campuses throughout southeastern Michigan, are demanding safe nurse-to-patient ratios, fair wages, affordable health insurance, and improved workplace safety. They are being represented by Teamsters Local 2024.
“This overwhelming strike vote shows that nurses are done being bullied into silence while executives put profits over patients and gamble with our safety and our licenses,” Rachel Szadyr, a cardiac ICU nurse and member of the bargaining committee, said in a statement. “It’s no secret that nurses everywhere are struggling. We keep losing incredible nurses because of a rigged system that lets so-called nonprofit hospitals pile more responsibility onto nurses while stripping away the resources we need to provide safe care. This isn’t sustainable, and it’s exactly why we are fighting for the best possible contract.”
Corewell Health in a statement to Deadline Detroit said:
"We care about our nurses and have made significant investments in wages and benefits. We remain committed to reaching an agreement with the Teamsters. The results of the strike authorization vote will not change our approach, and we believe talk of a strike is premature. Neither side has made a final offer, and we will continue to bargain in good faith."
A Teamsters press release said that in November 2024, Corewell nurses “beat back an aggressive $1.7 million union-busting campaign by voting three-to-one to join the Teamsters.”
Corewell Health East (Facebook photo)
In the 16 months since organizing, Corewell management has continued to attack nurses and violate labor law by withholding several economic opportunities that were given to nonunion employees, eliminating pull pay, and terminating their student loan repayment program, the release said.
“The clock is ticking for Corewell Health East to offer Teamsters nurses the contract they deserve — or 10,000 nurses will take this fight to the streets,” said Tom Erickson, lead negotiator and Teamsters Central Region International Vice President. “This greedy corporate hospital system spent millions to try to stop these nurses from becoming Teamsters, and now they are hemorrhaging even more money on anti-union attorneys who want to keep workers from getting the best possible contract.”
