University of Michigan Health-Sparrow hospital in Lansing.
The roughly 2,000 nurses and other healthcare workers at University of Michigan Health-Sparrow in mid-Michigan plan to strike the health system later this month.
The members of the Professional Employee Council of Sparrow Hospital-Michigan Nurses Association notified the healthcare system that its workers will strike for five days starting at 7 a.m. Jan. 20 after failing to reach a labor contract despite five months of negotiating.
In addition, the union said in a news release late Tuesday that it has filed unfair labor practice charges against UM Health-Sparrow with the National Labor Relations Board.
Members have been working without a contract since it expired Oct. 30, the union said. The union is demanding increased wages, better health insurance benefits and improvements in working conditions.
The union plans to picket in front of the main hospital in Lansing, the emergency department in Okemos and the Sparrow Health Center on Grand River Avenue in Lansing between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. without interrupting access to the providers.
“Due to the employer’s refusal to bargain a fair contract and their anti-union behavior, we have to draw a line in the sand — and we are united and energized to do that by hitting the pavement on January 20,” Leah Rasch, registered nurse and co-chair of the union bargaining team, said in the release. “It is not too much to ask that the University of Michigan, which has billions of dollars in resources, invest in competitive wages and affordable health care for the people who provide the care at their Lansing facilities.”
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UM Health acquired Sparrow in April 2023 in a no-cash deal with UM promising to invest $800 million into the Sparrow system over the course of eight years.
UM Health plans to build a $97 million psychiatric hospital in Lansing, a $32 million health center near Grand Ledge and announced it leased the former Rite-Aid pharmacy across the street from the main hospital for expanded services.
The strike threat is the third one UM Health has faced in recent months as the system and industry have faced rapid unionization coming out of the turbulent COVID-19 pandemic that began in early 2020.
UM Health avoided a strike from roughly 2,700 extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) specialists, phlebotomists, patient care technicians, inpatient unit clerks and clerical staff in October only hours before the workers represented by SEIU Health Care Michigan planned to walk out.
In November, the system reached an agreement with the 4,600 United Michigan Medicine Allied Professionals members a day before that union’s planned strike.
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Late last month, the system also reached a contract deal with the United Physician Assistants of Michigan Medicine union, though no strike was authorized.
UM Health said that while there is a strike planned, it believes a deal can be reached ahead of the Jan. 20 strike date.
“It is important to note that while a work stoppage is now a possibility, we remain confident that we can reach an agreement without one,” the system told Crain's in an emailed statement. “University of Michigan Health-Sparrow will continue to negotiate in good faith with our valued nurses and health care professionals for a fair contract that meets everyone’s needs while also ensuring our patients receive the highest quality of care.”
However, if a strike does occur, the health system said it has a contingency plan in place to remain fully operational.
The parties plan to resume negotiations on Jan. 16 and Jan. 17, the union said in the release.
This story first appeared in Crain's Detroit Business.
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