700 McLaren Macomb Hospital Workers Go On Strike

The strike should be over today:

https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/macomb/2025/07/09/staffing-wages-labor-strike-mclaren-macomb-hospital/84512315007/

Unfair labor practice strike for nurses, others at McLaren Macomb Hospital on third day
By Christina Hall - July 9, 2025
Detroit Free Press

*    Members of the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) Local 40 started their three-day strike July 7 at the hospital in Mount Clemens.
*    While service group members are to return to their jobs July 10, registered nurses will not return until July 12.
*    Hundreds of registered nurses and service group employees are on the third day of a three-day unfair labor practice strike at McLaren Macomb Hospital in Mount Clemens, with registered nurses not expected to return to work until the weekend.

The service group includes employees who draw blood, register patients and sit with patients who cannot be by themselves, as well as endoscopy technologists and critical care technicians, said Dina Carlisle, president of the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) Local 40, whose more than 660 union members work at the hospital and are on strike.

The July 7-9 strike aims to address what the union indicated are numerous unfair labor practices by the hospital, hindering its ability to reach fair contracts.

Carlisle, who said she has spent 25 years at the hospital as a registered nurse, indicated that service group employees are expected to return to work at about 7 a.m. July 10. She said the hospital "locked out" registered nurses from July 10-11, with those workers expected to return to their jobs on July 12. In between honking vehicle horns at the strike on July 9, Carlisle said registered nurses plan to be out there on July 10-11.

McLaren Health Care indicated in a July 7 statement that to "secure the registered nurses required to maintain safe care in the hospital during a strike immediately after a holiday weekend, the hospital had to commit to paying the replacement nurses for a minimum of five days." It indicated this left "McLaren with no other option than to inform the nurses' unit that they are prohibited from returning to work" until 7 a.m. on July 12.

Carlisle said that for the 476-plus registered nurses, "this isn't about money at all," adding: "We told them we would give up all their bonuses for safe staffing." She said they are short-staffed every day, and "there is no trust."

Jill Rebar, a registered nurse cross-trained as an intensive care unit nurse, said she has worked at the hospital for 19 years. In her current unit, observation, patients are supposed to be there for testing, but they now serve patients who need more care. She said nurses are warming up trays, transporting patients and answering phones for consultations, roles usually held by other workers, and it's "taking away the nursing care (patients) deserve."

Carlisle said the hospital is not following various national standards on the ratio of registered nurses to patients. For example, she said, the ratio of registered nurses to patients should be 1 to 4 in the emergency room, but Carlisle said it is 1 to 6 and includes intensive care unit and critical patients. On medical/surgical units, she said, it's a 1-to-6 ratio or more.

Carlisle said the union is fighting for a "safe staffing matrix that they violate regularly." She said there was a 95% vote to go on strike, with the entire registered nurse membership voting to do so.

McLaren Health Care indicated in a statement: "The union's narrative that we are unsafe and have horrible working conditions is an outright misrepresentation of the reality of the quality care provided at the hospital."

The statement continued: The hospital "maintains nationally benchmarked mandatory nurse-to-patient ratios, with current 13-month average ratios consistently meeting or exceeding standards." It also indicated the ratios were supported by the union in 2021 and reflect safe staffing practices. If ratios are exceeded, the health system indicated, "RNs are compensated accordingly."

It indicated that for medical/surgical units, there is a one nurse to 4.44 to 5.88 patients ratio; a one nurse to 1.76 patient ratio for the intensive care unit, and a one nurse to 1.41 patient ratio for obstetrics.

Carlisle said that for service group employees, the issues are about safety and fair pay. She said some of these workers "make poverty wages below minimum wage." Carlisle said in one proposal that the hospital offered 40 of the 186 service group members a raise.

"We would never take that," she said.

Carlisle said some members of the service group qualify for Medicaid and SNAP benefits. Some make $12-$13 an hour, she said, and have been there for years.

Brad Schunemann, vice president of the service group and a phlebotomist for nearly 26 years, said some of the patient safety associates who sit with patients so the patients don't harm themselves or fall out of bed are put in difficult situations and are "severely underpaid."

Those who handle registration are "significantly understaffed," he said, adding that "they're the people that bring in the bread. Without being registered, you can't do anything."

Carlisle said there are six unfair labor practice charges against the hospital for the service group over the past two years and seven such charges for the registered nurses filed over the past year.

The health system indicated in its statement that several of the union's unfair labor practice charges have not been upheld and that it filed four of its own pending unfair labor practices against the union. Carlisle said the hospital filed those four unfair labor practice charges "in the past few days."

The 288-bed hospital has remained open and operational during the strike, with the health care system indicating in a July 8 statement that patient care continued during the first day with minimal disruption. It said it was "fully staffed" with full-time McLaren Macomb medical staff members, employees and licensed, credentialed temporary professionals performing surgeries, cancer treatments, diagnostic testing, therapies, emergency services and continued inpatient care.

The health system maintained it has "bargained in good faith for the past two years for the service unit and RNs, investing extensive time and resources to reach an agreement that honors our team members and ensures the long-term stability of our hospital — especially considering recently passed federal legislation that significantly reduces Medicaid reimbursements and threatens financial sustainability for health care providers across the country."

It continued that its proposal "goes above and beyond what's being seen in our region and even nationally."

In its statement, the health care system indicated its latest offer for registered nurses included a revised wage scale that would result in a 15.84% to 40.14% pay increase for nurses over the three-year contract period; time-and-a-half pay for nurses who work more than 36 hours in a week and pick up additional shifts, and continued time-and-a-half pay after 40 hours, bringing some nurses close to $190,000 annually with regular overtime.

The health care system indicated it also offered annual retention bonuses of up to $1,000 based on tenure; an increase in existing hourly premiums for nurses who work afternoons, midnights and weekends, and an almost 16% increase in compensation for nurses if a unit is short-staffed, bringing the rate to $59.69 per hour by the third year of the contract, according to its statement.

For service group employees, it indicated, the latest proposal would be a three-year agreement with equity increases of up to 15% based on years of service; guaranteed 2% annual salary increases and raises aligned with nonunion peers, and maintaining current benefits for health insurance, paid time off, holiday pay, retirement contributions, shift differentials and overtime premiums.

The health system added that all contract offers are in addition to March 2025 wage adjustments, where employees below the new minimum received increases to meet the minimum amount on top of a 3% increase. It also indicated that employees whose wage rate was within the new range received a 5% wage increase.

Carlisle said while service group wages were just brought up to the new minimum wage rate, what the hospital proposes for next year will be under the state's minimum wage.

She said the hospital is pitching this to make it appear it is giving "all this money," but said, "we want safe staffing."

Carlisle said the union is willing to go back to the bargaining table and continue negotiations with the hospital. Schunemann said they intend to go back to the bargaining table "as soon as possible."

"We'd love to get this done," he said. "I think two years is long enough."