ROCHESTER, Mich. (WXYZ) — Around 350 nurses walked off the job and hit the picket line Monday morning outside of Henry Ford Rochester Hospital.
Watch the full story in the video player below
The strike is the first in the health system's 110-year history. Overwhelmed nurses with OPEIU Local 40 are now demanding that the hospital hire more workers to improve patient care.
After 7 years on the front lines, ER nurse Amanda Clark was one of the hundreds of Henry Ford Rochester Hospital nurses making their voices heard Monday morning.
"There’s strength in numbers. Hopefully, the hospital comes to the table after this," Clark said.
Clark says she's been at the Rochester medical facility for a little over a year, and the entire time, they've faced staffing challenges.
"Typical (Intensive Care Unit) should be a 1:2 ratio, one nurse to two patients. Sometimes I have up to four ICU patients in the ER, and I just don’t think that’s safe," said Clark. "It’s a little disheartening because you really want to spend the time helping that person feel better, but sometimes you’re so stretched thin that just somebody asking for a cup of water almost feels like an impossible task because you have so many other critical things you’re doing."
The nurses say they originally started negotiations in August of 2022. At the time, the hospital was under Ascension Healthcare. Healthcare workers went on strike against Ascension in September 2023, then Henry Ford took over operations in October of 2024. Workers are now on their second strike of this contract campaign after walking off the job Monday. This marks nearly three years of negotiations.
"Our biggest issue is (the) safety of the community. That is what we stand for first and foremost," said Danielle Drouillard, who is the vice president of OPEIU Local 40 nurses. "I think a lot of it stems from when big hospital chains absorb tiny hospitals, such as what happened to ours. You get a corporate entity that runs their 'not for profit' like a business, and when they’re so revenue driven and focused on a business model, the care is second to them."
Drouillard, who works as a Pre-Op nurse at the hospital part-time, says they're also fighting for equitable pay raises among every unit and for union protections to remain in place.
"We all see the solution as being very transparent and easy, and the hospital doesn’t want to discuss that because they want to treat all of their hospitals the same," said Drouillard.
Watch our full interview with Danielle in the video player below
Monday's strike is now one of several that have taken place in Metro Detroit in recent years. Just this February, 7 News Detroit was there as nurses at DMC Huron Valley Sinai in Commerce Twp. took hosted an informational picket voicing similar concerns.
"Staffing (issues) did not start with COVID. I’ve been with D.C. Nurses since 2002 and negotiated contracts for over 23 years now and each time there’s issues with staffing," said Edward Smith who is the executive director of the D.C. Nurses Association.
"Where do you see this going in the next 10 years? Do you see this persisting?" 7 News Detroit Reporter Whitney Burney asked.
"Yes. In a short answer, yes. The more detailed answer is that it will persist until the employers start working with nurses and other healthcare professionals about delivering good patient care," said Smith. "Nurses care and a lot of them say it’s a 'calling' and they mean it so when we talk about patient care and having nurses, patient ratios that’s exactly what we’re here to do: to try to make sure we have enough support, not just nurses but ancillary staff like techs, people to answer phones and the like."
A representative from Henry Ford Rochester Hospital sent the following statement in response to the ongoing strike:
Henry Ford Health’s greatest priority is and always will be the wellbeing of our patients, team members and the community. Henry Ford Rochester Hospital has a process in place to ensure our units are staffed in a way that provides the safe, high-quality care patients deserve. We deeply respect our nurses’ unique, professional expertise and include nurse leadership in any staffing decisions. Mandatory staffing ratios, like the one the union is proposing, hinder our ability to continuously adjust staffing based on patient need.
Henry Ford Health complies with all applicable federal labor strike laws, which take precedence over state statutes. We respect our employees’ right to strike; at the same time, it’s crucial for us to engage contracted nursing staff during the strike to ensure there is no disruption to patient care or hospital operations.
We would have preferred to have our Henry Ford Rochester Hospital nurses working in our hospital, but the striking nurses were unwilling to provide us with any assurances they would provide care for our patients. As a result, we were forced to make difficult decisions about staffing and needed to make patient care our priority. We look forward to welcoming them back to work.
The hospital has temporary staff in place and plans to remain open during the strike.
Nurses participating in the strike say they originally planned to strike through Wednesday, but say they have effectively been "locked out" of the hospital through Saturday in light of the contract between the hospital and the temporary staff hired.
The nurses in Rochester now plan to picket outside the hospital until Saturday. They say they are looking forward to meeting at the bargaining table again at the end of the month.
