More than 2,300 health care workers at the University of Michigan Medical School successfully passed card tests earlier this month, winning union recognition.
The 2,335 employees will join SEIU Healthcare Michigan, along with 283 Michigan Medicine registered respiratory therapists and technicians who unionized last July and are currently negotiating their first contracts. The March 18 card check is a procedure under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) that allows employers to voluntarily waive the secret ballot process if more than 50% of employees sign authorization cards. , can recognize unions.
“As patient service representatives, we play a critical role in our patients’ recovery. We make sure our patients have a positive first interaction with the University of Michigan Health System.” Mott Women’s said Willie Griggs, patient services representative at Children’s Hospital. “I grew up in a union family in the auto industry and saw the benefits and protections that unions provide them. The University of Michigan union is committed to ensuring that we voice our concerns and are heard in the workplace. It gives me a voice.”
A Michigan Medicine spokesperson declined to comment for this story.
The new staff members are patient care technicians, phlebotomists and phlebotomists, unit clerks, unit hosts, patient service assistants, patient service intermediaries, patient service associates, and patient service seniors.
Approximately 80% of Michigan’s health care workers are already unionized, but the COVID-19 pandemic has made it difficult for unionized workers to join, according to a release from Michigan SEIU Healthcare. The findings highlighted disparities among non-union workers on issues such as benefits, pay increases, and working conditions. That’s it.
“During the pandemic, the university took away retirement benefits. Non-union workers didn’t get raises, but their union colleagues did,” said Em Mayhew, an inpatient unit clerk at University Hospital. Told. “It also reduces the cost of small things that affect patients, like limiting salt and pepper packets on food trays. Unions fight for better wages and benefits, and ensure the quality patients deserve. It will be our voice for maintaining high standards of care.”
SEIU Healthcare Michigan currently represents more than 17,000 hospital and long-term care employees in the state and will continue to include call center representatives, administrative assistants, associates, seniors and professionals, and financial counselors. The state announced it would recruit more than 2,000 additional Michigan health care workers. , medical billing staff, and other patient service personnel.
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