Meet Aaron McCormick, new MNA president

Aaron is also vice president of National Nurses United (NNU), vice president of MNA-UMPNC (University of Michigan Professional Nurse Council), and a member of the MNA-UMPNC bargaining team, which just entered negotiations.

Q: Why did you decide to run for president of MNA?

A: We had great leadership through the past but my mindset is a little different. I want us to have a stronger, more united, more cohesive membership. I want us to be a union that fights together. I want us to have a bigger voice in the things that go on in the state of Michigan in nursing or even the government.

I want us to speak up and speak out. Let’s make more opportunities to do good. 

Q: How can MNA members help make our union stronger?

A: The more active members we have that show up, the stronger we are. There’s strength in numbers. Bring ideas, bring your thoughts. Every member is as much a member as I am. Let’s collaborate. For MNA to be the best, we have to make it the best together. 

Q: Bargaining a contract is part of union life. As someone who is currently in bargaining as well as on the previous negotiating team, what tips do you have for fellow MNA members in negotiations?

A. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. There’s going to be things that you don’t like. Both sides have a want, but we have the want of the people. Stay the course. Sometimes it takes time, it takes actions. It won’t always be easy. But that contract will be the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. 

Q. What would you say to workers who are thinking about forming a union in their workplace?

A. Everyone deserves a voice. A union gives you a voice in your workplace, a voice over your pay, your benefits, your work-life balance. These things won’t be easy to gain but once we gain them, we accomplish something that corporations never want, and that’s for us to have a voice. For someone new to unionism, I would say welcome to having a voice. 

I do understand that when you have this light shining on you, it can be scary and intimidating. Those reasons that you have fear should be the same reasons that you’re more inclined to join a union. Those fears are some of the fears that being in a union can help dissipate. 

If your employer is trying to stop you, that’s a sign you’re doing something right!

Q: Tell us about your journey into nursing.

A: I became a nurse because my grandmother was sickly. She had stage 4 cancer and she was on her last days and she had home care nurses that didn’t do a very good job. My thought was we needed people who care about people, to take care of people.

I was 15 and I actually had a scholarship to Culinary Institute of America in New York and I threw that all away (laughs).

I started at Wayne State University and transferred to Lutheran School of Nursing in St. Louis, Missouri. I’ve been a nurse for 11 years. 

I go to general care and telemetry as a float. We call it CSR at Michigan Medicine (Central Staffing Resources). You get to see a wide range of patients from neurological to psychological issues. I get a different type of experience every day, and I like that.

Q: How do you take care of yourself and deal with stress?

A: I try to go to the gym often. I do a lot of audio books. I do a lot of meditating; that eases me into the day.