Friend --

Last week Metro Detroit DSA comrades stood in solidarity with 6,300 University of Michigan union nurses at a town hall speak out in Ann Arbor. The nurses announced that they are voting whether to walk out over U of M’s unfair labor practices. Management is refusing to negotiate over “workload ratios” – how many patients each nurse must care for – claiming the right to management “flexibility”.

Can you join U of M nurses in solidarity at the picket line if they vote to walk off the job and demand that management bargain safe staffing ratios for their patients and themselves?

Sign up and we’ll be in touch within the next few weeks. The nurses will vote between August 27 and September 2, and must give 10 days’ notice before stopping work.

The contract between the U of M Professional Nurse Council (UMPNC) and U of M expired July 1. U of M refuses to recognize how unsafe working conditions can negatively affect both nurses’ well-being and patient care.

Nurses say they are at breaking point; at the town hall they described being forced to work back-to-back 16-hour shifts with only 4 hours’ sleep in between, and newborn babies getting bed sores because not enough staff were on hand to turn them. They said that nurses have formally reported over one thousand unsafe working conditions so far this year.

On Thursday, a group of allies met to plan solidarity and came up with several ways to support the nurses in addition to the picket line. Other U of M unions including the graduate employees (GEO) and lecturers (LEO) were there, along with members of Detroit DSA, Huron Valley DSA, and U of M YDSA. The allies will meet again via Zoom on Thursday, Sept. 1 at 7:30pm. If you would like to help us coordinate our support, please respond to this email letting us know!

Nurses in Minnesota and Wisconsin are ready to strike. U of M nurses may be taking action next. Can you join these brave nurses in solidarity at the picket line? DSA is building up our capacity to support workers when they fight the boss. You are needed. We are looking for a range of creative support ideas. Sign up below!

In solidarity,

Metro Detroit DSA Labor Working Group

http://www.metrodetroitdsa.com/