The following statement is from the administration at MyMichigan Sault
While today marks the first day of the nurses strike outside MyMichigan Medical Center Sault, inside our teams are hard at work with the support of MyMichigan Health nurses that have traveled from across the health system to cover for our striking nurses. In fact, today, we delivered a baby, as well as had three urgent operating room cases this morning, affirming our ability to care for you, our community. Again, we believe the proposal MyMichigan has on the table with the MNA continues to be fair and reasonable and is in recognition of the excellent care our nurses in the Sault provide.
Overall, the movements we have shown throughout the negotiations have been monumental and where the MNA began was an unrealistic starting position. For example, when our negotiations got off the ground in November, the MNA was looking for top of scale nurses to be paid at $51.30 per hour in year one alone. Their most recent proposal from earlier this month was $48.92 ($2.38 difference). By comparison, we first offered $40.85 in January, increased to $42.19, and on April 3, the Medical Center increased again to $44.77. That means the Medical Center increased its offer by $3.92 over a similar time period. And they responded to this by walking away from the table.
Overall, the moves we have made are significant in comparison to the union’s thus far. And, once you add in incentives for certifications and a benefits package that all MyMichigan Health employees carry, the compensation is even greater. Plus, you have investments we’ve made to make our nurses jobs even better, such as the addition of Epic. This electronic medical records system is essential to patient quality and safety and allows us to track data which supports our nurses and doctors at the beside. We could not have afforded such a system without our partnership with MyMichigan Health.
We see our nurses. We hear our nurses. We simply ask that the MNA allow our nurses to vote on this contract.
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