ROCHESTER, Mich. (WXYZ) — Nurses from Henry Ford Rochester Hospital started their strike at 7 a.m. Monday as contract negotiations continue to stall over staffing ratios.
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"No one wins in a strike. We want to safely serve our patients and that's why we're doing this," said Dina Carlisle, president of OPEIU Local 40.
Carlisle, who has been a nurse for 29 years, represents more than 350 registered nurses at the hospital.
The union is demanding better nurse-to-patient ratios be included in their contract.
"This local stands for safe staffing. I'm very proud to represent nurses who care so much about serving their community," Carlisle said.
The union wants mandated staffing minimums written into their contract, which is still under negotiation.
"We have nothing in our contract specifically that guarantees staffing minimums. So at this time, the hospital is the sole determiner of the staffing ratio," said Danielle Drouillard, vice president of OPEIU Local 40.
Drouillard argues that without contractual requirements, the hospital isn't being held accountable for maintaining appropriate staffing levels.
"There are other professional nursing standards that the hospital says they're following but if there's nothing holding them to that standard, I can speak from my leadership position, they do not audit it and they do not track it so we can't figure out if they're following them or not," Drouillard said.
Henry Ford Rochester Hospital maintains they staff based on patient volumes and other factors, stating that mandated ratios would hinder their ability to adapt to varying patient conditions.
The hospital has arranged for outside agency staff during the strike and assured the community they will remain open.
In a statement, hospital officials said:
Henry Ford Rochester Hospital will remain open to the community. We have a plan in place to ensure the highest standard of care and safety for our patients and team members. We believe strongly that the offer we’ve made to our nurses is a fair, competitive, and thoughtful investment in our future together.
Consistent with our commitment to nurses across our health system, our offer includes competitive wages and benefits, while ensuring safe staffing and a sustainable financial future for our hospital.
We remain grateful for our talented nurses and the care and compassion they bring to our patients and our organization every day, and we are steadfast in our commitment to a culture that values their unique, professional expertise. We look forward to welcoming those who have chosen to strike back to work.
For Drouillard, she says she wants what's best for her patients.
"I love being a nurse. I didn't become a nurse to go on strike," Drouillard said.
The strike is scheduled to run from Monday through Friday, June 13.
Henry Ford Rochester Hospital sent us the following statement on the strike, courtesy of their Media Relations team:
Good afternoon.
As you continue your coverage of the OPEIU strike at Henry Ford Rochester Hospital please consider the following statements. These build on our statement from June 6 and address patient safety, staffing ratios, and claims about strike statutes:
Henry Ford Health’s greatest priority is and always will be the wellbeing of our patients, team members and the community. Henry Ford Rochester Hospital has a process in place to ensure our units are staffed in a way that provides the safe, high-quality care patients deserve. We deeply respect our nurses’ unique, professional expertise and include nurse leadership in any staffing decisions. Mandatory staffing ratios, like the one the union is proposing, hinder our ability to continuously adjust staffing based on patient need.
Henry Ford Health complies with all applicable federal labor strike laws, which take precedence over state statutes. We respect our employees’ right to strike; at the same time, it’s crucial for us to engage contracted nursing staff during the strike to ensure there is no disruption to patient care or hospital operations.
We would have preferred to have our Henry Ford Rochester Hospital nurses working in our hospital, but the striking nurses were unwilling to provide us with any assurances they would provide care for our patients. As a result, we were forced to make difficult decisions about staffing and needed to make patient care our priority. We look forward to welcoming them back to work.
We encourage you to reach out to the American Nurses Association or the Michigan Health and Hospital Association for third-party perspective about safe staffing.
Thank you,
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