The Strike: A Nursing Strike in Petoskey may be part of a National Movement

Dec. 18, 2002

It‘s bitter cold on the picket line outside Northern Michigan Hospital in Petoskey on the morning of December 9. Temperatures are in the low 20s and a cutting wind is blowing out of the north across Little Traverse Bay. It‘s so cold that the ink in a reporter‘s pen freezes within two minutes of asking nurses what the strike is all about. Another pen is produced and it too is quickly frozen solid.
But the two dozen or so nurses walking the strike line don‘t seem to mind the freezing temps. The sun is shining and a steady stream of motorists driving by on US 31 wave and honk in support.
“It gets pretty cold,“ agrees Michelle Juntunen, R.N., who‘s walking her shift on the line. “It‘s very brisk at times, although I find that I‘m getting used to the cold.“
“Usually, when you come out to the line you get a lot of support from the public, with people honking their horns and making donations of lots of food and beverages,“ says Virginia Nuffer, R.N. “I get down at home sometimes, but when I come here to the picket line, it raises my spirits.“
These are common sentiments on the line. Although they‘ve been out on strike for 33 days as of December 16, the nurses here radiate high morale and esprit de corps. They say they‘re getting in shape, are used to the cold, and have the community behind them by a wide margin in local letters to the editor. If good spirits and cameraderie could generate heat, then this would be a summer day in Petoskey.

THE BACKGROUND
The registered nurses of Teamsters Local 406 walked out in mid November after more than seven months of negotiations with the administration of Northern Michigan Hospital (NMH) failed to produce a union contract.
Offficially, 271 nurses are out on strike. The strikers claim, however, that the actual number is more than 300, because some of their colleagues are staying home under pretenses, such as disabilities, in order to avoid crossing the picket line.
Of that number, strikers claim that 70 percent are bedside nurses and that virtually every intensive care unit team leader is out on strike. Strikers also claim that the hospital‘s operating room and cardiac cath lab are staffed by only one original NMH nurse each, with the balance made up of strike breakers from U.S. Nursing Corp. The strikers say that the infusion center for chemotherapy patients has had a 100 percent walk-out.
All this on top of the fact that NMH reportedly had 58 nursing positions to fill before the strike.

NATIONAL PROBLEM
Petoskey‘s strike may not be an unusual occurrence for long, because union demands for better benefits, pensions, pay and more input in patient care are being echoed at hospitals across the nation.
Just last week, for instance, nurses at Munson Medical Center in Traverse City reportedly informed the Michigan Nursing Association (MNA) union to “take a hike,“ in one NMH striker‘s words, because the MNA hasn‘t been tough enough when it comes to negotiating a contract. Munson nurses are reportedly looking into the possibility of a stronger union affiliation -- such as with the Teamsters -- which will drive a harder bargain at the hospital.
“The Teamsters have a lot more clout,“ says one striker. “It takes millions and millions of dollars to run a strike like this. One day if they can organize nurses across the country, the Teamsters will be the biggest union in America and they won‘t be associated with trucking any more.“
Currently, strikers are receiving $75 a week in strike pay from the Teamsters, and the union is also providing heaters and other materials for the 406 MASH unit shelter of hay bales and canvas on city property across from the hospital. The Teamsters represent about 25,000 - 30,000 health care workers across the country, and their strikes average about three months.
When asked if they believe there will be more strikes across the nation, a chorus of nurses on the picket line respond with one voice, “Absolutely.“
Strikes may compound an already difficult situation for the nation‘s hospitals, which are struggling with reduced Medicaid and Medicare payments as well as a nursing shortage.
“The fact is that there‘s a nursing shortage nationwide and if we don‘t do something about it, what‘s going to happen?“ says Mark Ward, R.N., an 18-year veteran at NMH who works in the cardiac cath lab. “The baby boomers are getting older and need more health care at a time when the country has its largest shortage of nurses ever.“

TURNED OFF
Ward and other strikers say that nursing schools aren‘t drawing as many candidates as in the past because the profession has acquired a bad reputation for long hours, high levels of stress, and a weak voice in the patient care planning process without commensurate benefits or pay.
Of a dozen or so strikers interviewed, all claimed that pay wasn‘t a big issue in the NMH walkout, but the hospital‘s pension plan is a sore point.
J.T. Trebilcock, R.N., of the operating room, says he knows of one nurse who has worked at NMH for 44 years, receiving a pension of about $600 per month. He notes that as a retiree, her health insurance alone could total $700 per month. “If someone‘s giving their heart for 44 years in this profession, they deserve better than that,“ he says.
Sharon Norton, the business representative for the Teamsters, tells the story of another nursing retiree at NMH who has 41 years in at the hospital and is receiving a pension of less than $800 per month.
“Nurses are exposed to every disease known to man and are often on their feet for 12 hours a day taking care of our loved-ones, but when they retire, they can‘t even pay their own health insurance,“ Norton says. She adds that the hospital‘s response to the union‘s request for a better pension plan has been a reduction “from a pitifully poor plan to one that‘s even less.“

PATIENT CARE
Another hot button for the strikers is a demand for more say in patient care. Norton says the hospital rejected a union request for the establishment of a nursing committee to address patient care issues, such as long hours and nurse-to-patient ratios. Strikers feel that the hospital‘s present hand-picked nursing committee is unable to address patient issues independent of financial considerations from administration.
Nurses would also like more representation on NMH‘s board of trustees. Norton says the only nurse on the board hasn‘t practiced in 10 years.
More input in patient care is necessary to protect nurses as well as patients, says Trudy Green, R.N., a 21-year veteran of the hospital who works in the cardiovascular unit.
“Our licenses are on the line for whatever we do, so if we make a mistake, we can lose our licenses,“ Green says.
Mistakes can arise from fatigue or juggling too many patients with highly individualized health problems and needs. Many nurses work 12-hour days on three-day shifts, Green says. “However, when you work a 12-hour shift and are asked to work overtime, then you have to work 16 hours and that‘s a lot of pressure on nurses.“
In her 34-bed unit, there might be 16-18 patient discharges per day, with as many admissions of persons suffering from grave cardiovascular problems, Green says. It‘s not hard to imagine an exhausted nurse making a critical error in such a situation.
How could a nursing committee help?
“We have to make some decisions; either to close beds or close units to admissions,“ Green says. “These are things the hospital would never do, because they‘d lose business. Or, we need to have people to call to come in when the (patient) census is higher. Give nurses more incentive to work that position -- a couple of bucks more to come in.“

FOLLOW THE MONEY
From the hospital‘s perspective, however, the strike is basically about money.
“We continue to be puzzled by the strike when there is substantial agreement on most issues in the contract,“ reads a statement on the NMH website. “We are apart on union security, management rights and items in the economic portion of the contract. The union had proposed a wage and benefits package totaling in excess of $7 million. The hospital countered with a package of $2.5 million, an amount we feel is responsible for this organization. No matter what you have heard from the Teamsters, one point is clear now: this is basically a strike about money. At no time has the union negotiated nurse staffing or patient safety issues.“

GRIDLOCK
Strikers uniformly believe the NMH administration is more interested in breaking the union than negotiating a settlement. Several claim that the Fishman Group law firm of Bloomfield Hills, headed up by attorney Steve Fishman, is noted for its union-busting tactics. “When the hospital brought this firm in, we knew they weren‘t serious about negotiating,“ Norton says.
Norton claims the hospital and its law firm have engaged in foot-dragging tactics, quibbling over small points to avoid substantive issues. “It took three bargaining sessions just to agree on what the Teamsters union name was.“
The hospital disputes those statements, stating that the name issue was a consequence of its employee handbook needing an update.
Regarding the stalling claim, a December 10 news release from Tom Spencer‘s department of community affairs at NMH states that the hospital has presented an offer and it‘s the union which hasn‘t responded.
“No new talks have been scheduled since the Teamsters called the strike November 14th,“ states the release. “Before bargaining broke off in the evening of the 13th, the hospital presented a now publicly available document to the union as a last effort to secure an agreement. Instead of providing input or even a counter offer, the union simply rejected the hospital’s package, and confirmed that rejection in a November 15th letter, leaving the parties at impasse. The union has not altered its position since that time.“

WHAT NEXT?
One theory in the community is that the hospital intends to simply wear its nurses down with the erosion of cold and lack of pay. As nurses leave town for other jobs, the strike will cave in.
Indeed, there‘s proof of the nursing drain aspect, but it may have unintended consequences for the hospital. NMH nurses are leaving for other hospitals downstate and in communities such as Cheboygan, Charlevoix, St. Ignace and Marquette. “There‘s a big nursing shortage and we‘re in demand,“ says one striker. “We‘re the cream of the crop and can find jobs nationwide.“
Nurses wonder how the hospital will cope with the exodus. “If they couldn‘t fill 58 positions before we left, how will they fill them now?“ asks Mark Braendle, R.N., of the intensive care unit.
Leslie Pearson, R.N., says that nurse recruiters have been to the strike tent, trying to lure strikers to other hospitals. As a result of the high demand for nurses, she says she has “no anxiety about the strike. It‘s just a matter of when we‘ll return to the hospital. I know we‘ll be back here sometime.“
Officially, the hospital has no concerns on the subject. “Approximately half of the hospital’s regular nurses are working during the Teamsters strike,“ states the NMH website. “The rest of the nursing care is being provided by replacement nurses who have graduated from, trained with, or have been employed by places like Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, Johns Hopkins University, Northwestern University, Duke University, Texas Heart Institute and Massachusetts General Hospital and Baylor University. The U.S. Nursing Corporation has provided the majority of the replacement nurses, all of whom are licensed to practice in Michigan.“
Traveling nurses come at a high cost, however. According to a report by the American Nurses Association, U.S. Nursing Corp. received between $2,700 to $5,000 per nurse per week during a strike in Washington, D.C. in 2000. Although nursing wages are considerably more in a city like Washington than in Northern Michigan, nurses on the picket line believe that the strikebreakers are receiving about $40 per hour, not counting fees to the Colorado-based corporation.
Nurses also agree that their union is here to stay.
“Not one person here thought we would go out on strike,“ says Trebilcock. “We didn‘t become nurses to be standing out here in the cold. We‘d rather be in the hospital. But it‘s a matter of principle -- we voted the union in and the hospital isn‘t bargaining in good faith.“