KALAMAZOO, Mich. — Ascension Borgess nurses have voted to give their bargaining team the ability to call for a strike.
With a contract that expired Nov. 11 and multiple negotiation meetings with the health system, Borgess nurses are still fighting for a contract that meets their needs.
“The next step is tomorrow, we go back to the table with ascension Borges, and sit down and try to get some movement from them and avoid having to call a strike,” said Jamie Brown, treasurer of the local Michigan Nurses Association.
Brown has worked at Borgess Hospital for 18 years, and she’s part of the bargaining team. She said although 86% of the nurses voted in favor of a possible strike, it’s the last thing they want to do.
“We are hoping that we will be able to resolve our issues at the table, if not tomorrow, at the next meeting, and get a tentative agreement that will benefit the nurses, the community, and the hospital and move forward,” Brown said.
At a time when more nurses are leaving the field, Brown feels it’s important that the new contract reflects better wages and safe patient care.
“We have nurses in the hospital taking up to 10 patients on a med surge floor, which is completely ridiculous. No nurse should have more than five patients on a med surge floor,” she said. Right now, the health systems are asking nurses to do more with less.
According to Union representatives, Ascension executives want to require nurses to work every other weekend, while taking away all contractually protected leaves.
“The people making the decisions at the top, they don't know what we do. So they need to realize that we know what we're talking about,” Brown said.
The bargaining team is trying to exhaust all resources before calling a strike that will require a 10-day notice.
