This week marked the start of a two-week period of bargaining sessions, in which Michigan Medicine and MNA/UMPNC are scheduled to meet five days a week, with a goal of reaching a tentative agreement by Friday, May 20. We recognize that is an ambitious goal, but are committed to working toward a final agreement before the current contract expires to allow time to implement agreed-upon changes to the current agreement.

On Tuesday, Michigan Medicine submitted a proposal on workplace safety, which led to significant discussion about the safety concerns that our nurses have. We listened to all of the concerns brought forth by MNA/UMPNC and are actively looking into possible solutions in coordination with the Department of Public Safety and Security and other stakeholders at Michigan Medicine. We take the safety of all of our employees seriously and while we acknowledge that we cannot prevent every safety incident before it happens, we aim to provide a work environment that protects our nurses’ safety and wellbeing, and are committed to continually improve the processes we have in place to support our nurses when they experience workplace harm.

At the end of the day on Thursday, we provided MNA/UMPNC with a package proposal related to compensation including wages, staffing and scheduling, overtime, shift and weekend premium, on call pay, paid time off, and holiday pay.