ROYAL OAK, Mich. (WXYZ) — Corewell Health nurses could be a part of the Teamsters Union if they vote yes to it this week.
Some nurses from Corewell Health hospitals across metro Detroit came together on Sunday night to encourage their fellow nurses from Corewell Health’s Royal Oak Beaumont Hospital to vote yes to unionize.
“We’re just sick of doing more with less,” said Sarah Johnson, a nurse at Beaumont Hospital. “Enough is enough, we deserve better and our patients deserve better.”
Johnson has been advocating for nurses who work within the nine Corewell Health East hospitals to be a part of the Teamsters union.
“We didn’t just decide to unionize with one hospital. We know for that this company that we're with, we have to have strength in numbers,” Johnson added.
From Nov. 12-14, more than 9,600 Corewell Health nurses will have the opportunity to vote yes or no to unionizing.
“We’ve been campaigning for a year now so we’re just trying to pump everyone up for this last week,” said Johnson.
I also spoke with a nurse who works at Corewell Health’s Wayne hospital who was out at the rally.
“What’s something you are looking forward to if it is a yes vote to unionizing?” I asked.
“My No. 1 thing is better health care. Corewell Health owns Priority Health insurance and we have one of the worst plans that they offer,” said Natalie Lunsford, a nurse at Corewell Health’s Wayne Hospital. “My number two thing is nurse-patient ratios. The unit I work on is a five-to-one, so five patients to one nurse. It’s a cardiac unit, it should really only be three to one.”
We reached out to Corewell Health to learn what they have to say about the nurses' unionization effort and we were sent this statement:
We respect unions. However, we believe the majority of our nurses do not want a union. We also believe our ability to provide high quality care to our patients and maintain a positive work environment is best achieved through a direct working relationship with our nurses.
The results of vote will come out on Friday and that will let the nurses know if they will officially be a part of the Teamsters union.
