McLaren Macomb Nurses Authorize Strike Over Patient Care Issues

MOUNT CLEMONS, MI — Nurses at McLaren Macomb have voted to strike over issues they said are related to patient care.

Over eight out of 10 registered nurses represented by OPEIU Local 40 voted in favor of a strike, the union said in a news release issued Tuesday morning.

"Our RNs have worked diligently and endlessly over the last year dealing with an unprecedented pandemic, with a remarkable lack of support from McLaren," OPEIU Local 40 President Jeffrey Morawski said in a statement. "A central issue in the negotiations is to provide safe and appropriate nurse-patient ratios, which is the best way to protect our community. With these vote totals, obviously the nurses do not favor McLaren's wholly inadequate proposals that seemingly are designed only to protect McLaren's bottom line."

The union and the hospital have been negotiating for a new contract since February, but union officials said those negotiations have been delayed due to "the Hospital's failure to resolve significant patient safety and nursing morale issues."

The current contract is set to expire on July 27.

In a statement to Patch, hospital spokesman Dave Jones said the hospital is "disappointed" in the union's decision to authorize a strike.

"The timing of this vote coincides with the difficult time that all hospitals have had recruiting and retaining nurses during the pandemic and is not a coincidence," he said. "This is an unconscionable attempt by select union representatives to use the pandemic as leverage at the bargaining table."