HOUGHTON, Mich. (WZMQ) – The Michigan Nurses Association is holding a week of action to bring awareness to some of the issues facing nurses today.
Nurses from across Michigan are advocating for fair contracts, higher wages, and better working conditions by taking part in rallies statewide. Here in Houghton, nurses from the Aspirus Keweenaw Hospital banded together in a show of unity. Their rally at the Portage Canal Lift Bridge was especially timely, as they are currently negotiating a new contract.
“It also aligns really nicely with our current contract bargaining, so we can bring community awareness to that as well,” said Melissa Helppi, a registered nurse at Aspirus Keweenaw Hospital.
The statewide events include rallies, practice strikes, and a legislative day of action. The events are not work stoppages. Nurses participated on their own time.
Closer to home, nurses at Aspirus Keweenaw say they have met with Aspirus numerous times with little progress.
“We’ve met a total of eight times now with the management team at Aspirus, and have been shot down on a lot of the things that the nurses are wanting to see in the second contract,” said Helppi.
A main point of contention is staffing… with nurses routinely working long hours and extra shifts for what they believe is an unfair wage.
“Nurses are constantly being asked to come in for extra shifts, which is creating burnout. So we lose more nurses that way as well,” explained Helppi.
The Keweenaw nurses want to eliminate market-based wages, which set pay in line with the current local job market, rather than based on performance, length of service, or cost of living.
“We want to go back to a wage scale, where nurses can see where they will stand in years to come, and hopefully we can retain nurses for longer, and they’ll feel more compensated for their years of experience,” said Helppi.
These nurses say that caring for the welfare of nurses is an important step in caring for the welfare of patients.
