UPHS-Marquette nurses, techs to hold “practice strike” Monday (Aug. 18)

Patient safety, health insurance among key issues for 600 workers at the U.P.’s largest hospital 

MARQUETTE – UPHS-Marquette RNs and techs will hold a “practice strike” at Harlow Park on Aug. 18 to show Lifepoint how serious they are about getting fair contracts as negotiations heat up. (This is not a work stoppage.)

“Lifepoint executives have not offered meaningful solutions to our priority issues, including fixing the staffing crisis that we believe is putting patients at risk,” said Christina Hanson, RN, president of the RN Staff Council at the hospital. “The chronic understaffing at the hospital is not fair to nurses and techs and it’s definitely not fair to patients. With two U.P. hospitals planning to reduce their inpatient beds, even more people are likely to come to UPHS-Marquette for care – the hospital needs a real plan, but Lifepoint is not listening to the ideas we propose.”

About 600 workers are in bargaining over two separate contracts – one for the RN Staff Council and one for the Marquette Ancillary Staff and Technologists (MAST). The two unions are part of the Michigan Nurses Association (MNA), consisting of about 600 professionals combined. Lifepoint Health, which operates UPHS-Marquette, is under the umbrella of the multibillion-dollar Apollo Global Management private equity firm. 

The UPHS-Marquette workers are advocating for solutions to the staffing crisis at the hospital, including contract protections against unreasonable workloads. They also want competitive compensation to attract and retain the healthcare professionals needed to provide the community with safe, quality care. In addition, MAST members are worried about their health insurance, which is costlier and has less coverage than the nurses’ plan. 

“There is a big disconnect at the bargaining table because Lifepoint, as a private equity operation, is all about profits, whereas we as healthcare professionals are focused on patients,” said Josh Bowman, a medical laboratory scientist at the hospital, president of MAST and an MNA board member. “We believe that workers and patients are more important than a Tennessee corporation's profits. We’re holding the practice strike to send Lifepoint executives a message: If they don’t start listening to us, we as workers have the power and unity to make a strike a reality.”

Marshfield Medical Center–Dickinson in Iron Mountain and MyMichigan Sault in Sault Ste. Marie both are pursuing plans to become critical access hospitals, which will limit their inpatient care to 25 beds and patient stays to about 96 hours; both currently have 49 beds. Although officials at those hospitals are downplaying the effects of this change, it seems inevitable that not all patients seeking care there will be able to receive it, pushing them to other U.P. hospitals. As the U.P.’s biggest hospital, UPHS-Marquette seems poised to receive those additional patients. 

Background and details of the “practice strike”
• MAST’s contract expires on Sept. 8; the nurses’ contract expires Sept. 1 (this is the second of two extensions) 
• The RNs began bargaining March 18; the next bargaining dates are Aug. 22 and 23. MAST bargaining started March 19; the next bargaining dates are Sept. 2 and 3.

WHAT: MNA “practice strike”
WHO: UPHS-Marquette registered nurses and technologists
WHEN: 4:30 to 6:15 p.m. Monday, Aug. 18 
WHERE: Harlow Park, 100 W. Washington St., Marquette 
VISUALS/SOUND: Nurses and technologists in red chanting, holding signs

Note: This is not a work stoppage; RNs and techs will be participating on their own time.

The Michigan Nurses Association (MNA) is the largest union and professional association for registered nurses and healthcare professionals in the state. MNA is an affiliate of National Nurses United and AFL-CIO.