Last Thursday, several dozen Michigan Medicine nurses and their supporters staged a protest and march in Ann Arbor that included attendance at the June meeting of the University of Michigan board of trustees.

The demonstration was organized by the University of Michigan Professional Nurses Council (UMPNC), which is affiliated with the Michigan Nurses Association (MNA). The UMPNC called the protest as part of efforts by local and state union leaders to divert the enormous anger of the bargaining unit’s 6,200 nurses over intolerable conditions and channel it into unnecessary calls for regents dominated by business and the Democratic Party, while working to isolate nurses and impose a concession contract.

However, nurses who spoke at the Board of Regents meeting described the impossible working conditions, understaffing, dangerous nurse-to-patient ratios and brutal work schedules they face.

Protesters gathered at the university’s Detroit Observatory near the Michigan Medicine health care facilities, then marched several blocks to a central campus classroom building where the regents’ meeting was being held.

As their current contract expires on June 30, the nurses are fighting against health system leadership’s push for a new concession deal, including pay raises at half the current inflation rate and further cuts of staff, as well as other attacks on their working conditions.

Rather than rallying the strength of Michigan Medicine nurses, uniting them with other hospital staff and preparing for a strike to win their fight, the union collected 4,000 signatures on a ‘United We Bargain’ petition. addressed to the regents of the university. The petition asks the council to help nurses get a “fair contract”, establish “fair wages” and end “dangerous compulsory overtime”.

As the MNA-UMPNC reported in its June 17 bargaining update, the union promotes the false hope that the university’s board of trustees “will stand with us and push Michigan Medicine to come forward.” to the table with a fair contract offer”. In the meantime, the union has not presented specific demands regarding the interests of nurses. He even failed to schedule a strike authorization vote.

Attendance at the Board of Regents meeting was carefully monitored. No one was admitted without a badge provided by the UMPNC, which fears the cover of World Socialist Website and its growing audience among nurses. Union officials refused to give WSWS reporters the necessary security clearance.

However, the proceedings were recorded by the university and posted on YouTube. The nurses’ statements at the meeting, as well as the board members’ response to their comments, revealed that the nurses face unsustainable conditions of exploitation. And the fight against these conditions cannot be waged through appeals to sections of the ruling establishment such as the Board of Regents.

First, even though the meeting was dominated by the presence of protesting nurses and their supporters, the council proceeded as usual and forced the nurses to speak at the very end of the order of the day, during the period devoted to “public comments on Non-Agenda Matters.” »

When the nurses had the opportunity to speak, they exposed the appalling and dangerous health care conditions that prevail at Michigan Medicine.

Ann Jackson, who worked as a nurse in the UM hospital system for 38 years, said:

For more than two years in the meat grinder of the COVID pandemic, nurses have been exhausted. In March 2020, we had to fight to get proper PPE and just to wear an N95 mask with every COVID patient. In June 2020, to add insult to injury, Michigan Medicine then implemented austerity measures. I will never forget when the CFO casually talked about the “opportunities” to come. What he meant was layoffs. They reduced 788 support staff, but not their workload. It is and continues to be the nurses who must take over at the expense of patients and nurses.

Understaffed units 1, 2, 5, 10 nurses per shift caring for too many sick people at once, forced overtime, no meals or breaks in shifts lasting up to 4 p.m., the charge nurse taking an assignment instead of being available to help in an emergency.

Adam Paulson, a pediatric critical care nurse in the UM system for 13 years, said:

Two years ago, the management team called us heroes; offered praise at every turn. Now they are offering us contracts that reduce our protections, our patients’ protections and, based on current inflation, a reduction in salary, while obtaining salary increases of 20%. We have 11 intensive care units at the hospital that have lost 20-30% of their staff, and the current contract proposals will do nothing to stop that. Management forces us to work compulsory overtime, 16-hour shifts, which force us to choose between our patients and being there for our families. It is not safe for nurses or patients. One of my colleagues was so exhausted that she destroyed her car on her way home from a 16 hour shift. We want to end management’s reliance on mandatory overtime.

We lose one to two nurses a week, and it takes 20 weeks to train a critical care nurse. And we can only train 20-25 nurses at a time. We lack experienced nurses to train new ones. …People from all over the country come to Michigan Medicine, and we just can’t take care of them because management won’t fix the chronic understaffing. … Your management team must remember that I am not a cost, I am an investment. Nurses are an investment in this hospital and this community, and we deserve a contract that reflects that.

Alicia Hopkins, a registered nurse for 15 years and employed at Michigan Medicine for three years, said:

Unfortunately, Michigan Medicine has used the pandemic to make drastic staffing changes, and I can honestly say this is the first time in my career that I’ve felt like leaving nursing. …I am an experienced floating nurse. Every shift, I move from one unit to another to fill in staffing gaps. Even with me, staffing is still not adequate, forcing charge nurses to take on patient assignments, along with other responsibilities. Staff are overstretched and patient safety is at risk.

Since the pandemic, the intensity of care that patients need has increased dramatically. They are sicker; they are unstable. Due to understaffing, we are seeing a higher number of falls, pressure ulcers and other poor patient outcomes due to lack of resources. Patients and their families are upset that they are not getting the care they need and deserve, and they are attacking us, the bedside nurses.

Over time, this has resulted in a high incidence of damage to nursing staff morale. We are devastated. I speak for all nurses when I say I am frustrated with Michigan Medicine’s handling of the staffing crisis. Throughout the pandemic, we have put our lives on the line to do what we do best, which is to take care of our patients. We are tired of a system that exploits our skills and compassion to increase their bottom line.

Kevin, an ER nurse, said:

I came to Michigan Medicine in Adult ER in 2016. We were at the top of the nursing pay scale with unmatched benefits coupled with the ability to learn how to care for very complex patients. Fast forward to now. My ER waiting room continues to be overflowing with these same complex patients, now with wait times of over five hours or more. I remember when over 20 patients waiting for a room was alarming. Now it has been normalized to have records, as many as 82 patients lined the halls with just a handful of nurses to manage them. In light of recent events in Texas and Tulsa, there are growing concerns about our safety as stories of physical and verbal abuse towards our staff grow.

The loss of 38 technicians at the height of our pandemic in our emergencies. A constant large influx of travel nurses making almost three times our salary when we have never needed travel nurses since I started. Our responsibilities as emergency room workers have continued to increase as our compensation declines as more experienced staff leave for more lucrative opportunities. All of this threatens patient safety and outcomes on a daily basis. I worry about our young doctors, nurses, technicians, physician assistants and, above all, the patients. I’m proud to be an ER nurse and I don’t want standards [of this profession] that I am decreasing.

After each of the nurses spoke, board member Denise Ilitch, a member of the billionaire Ilitch family, owner of the Little Caesar’s Pizza empire, gave a condescending response. Ilitch feigned sympathy for the nurses and told them how much she appreciated that they “come here and share with all of us your concerns.” She said the Board of Regents had been ‘assured that the issues you raised were being resolved’ and told the nurses to come back and give them updates.