Mt. Clemens General Hospital
Nurses strong on their picket line
By Lucy Seefried
Detroit
It is Aug. 11, an overcast day two on strike
as nurses, their families and friends picket outside the
ever-growing metropolitan hospital of Detroit, Mount Clemens
General.
Altogether the nurses of Mount Clemens General have been
working without a contract for five months. Amidst the national
crisis of nursing shortage, and the patient-nurse ratio rising
all over, the nurses of MCGH went on strike the morning of Aug.
9. Patient care is their number-one concern.
Beginning in November 2003, claiming dire financial stress,
the hospital began laying off employees and shutting down many
of its community-service organizations that serviced low-income
residents in the area. A hiring freeze was in effect for all of
November and December that year, and the nursing staff was cut
considerably. More than 100 employees were laid off. Many more
resigned out of frustration.
As the number of MCGH employees began to dwindle, nurses'
work load increased. They lost much assistance that was
provided by nurses' aides and unit secretaries. Their patient
load increased.
The patients' needs were not being met, which also put the
nurses' professional licenses on the line. The nurses were left
with no other option; they simply could not afford to work
without adequate staffing and an appropriate number of nurses
to take care of patients. The nurses filed multiple grievances
beginning in early January of this year. The nurses asked for a
modest nurse-patient ratio and that the work load be contained.
The response was "summary dismissal"--in other words, no action
on the hospital's part.
Before the nurses took their battle to the picket lines, the
hospital offered a poor contract option: further staff cuts,
forcible cross training of the nursing staff to work on
multiple units, a wage increase that nullified cost sharing, no
increase in pension, and a take-back of 32 hours in sick and
vacation time. Ninety-seven percent of the nurses voted down
the proposed contract. And in the end, 92 percent voted to
strike.
While the hospital management justifies their position by
pointing to a loss of $30 million, they have continued building
and expansion plans that to date have cost $82 million. Within
six years the hospital has built a brand new
multi-million-dollar atrium, parking structure and emergency
center. Construction has begun on a new surgical wing and a
high-tech cancer center.
MCGH bosses refuse to discuss the matter. The nurses, says
Sandra Sulflow, vice president of the MCGH RN Unit, RN Staff
Council of Office and Professional Employees Local 40, feel
"betrayed, abandoned, and disrespected."
Some of the nurses on the picket line are single mothers
supporting their families. This is their only income.
And if the hospital bosses have their way, who else is going
to suffer besides those who need the care the most?
Seefried was laid off from MCGH during the program cuts
in 2003.
Editor's note: On Aug. 15 the union leadership put
management's latest offer to the members, recommending a "no"
vote. Although the hospital threatened to hire permanent
replacements after the strike began, the nurses still voted
"no" by a three-to-one margin.
Reprinted from the Aug. 26, 2004, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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