Mercy Health Muskegon employees have voted to start picketing outside the hospital, as some workers have gone nearly 3 years without a new contract.
Union members, who belong to the SEIU Healthcare Michigan, overwhelmingly voted in favor of pickets, as hospital officials seem unwilling to budge on the healthcare workers’ demands in the new contract.
Mercy Health Musekgon employees say, they are overworked, underpaid, and understaffed, and are demanding a raise---to not only retain staff, but also recruit--as a number of Mercy Health Muskegon workers have already jumped ship and taken jobs where the pay is substantially higher.
Joy Bamford has been a registered nurse for over 14 years at Mercy Health. She says, after two years of working tirelessly through the pandemic, to feel like the hospital doesn’t have its workers backs is a slap in the face.
“There are people abandoning this community,” Blamford said. “And no one wants to talk about money, because it looks bad, but that is what it comes down to at this point.”
Blamford says the pickets may begin soon, but assured that employees would never abandon their post and would demonstrate during their off hours.
Mercy Health Muskegon released this statement,
“Mercy Health Muskegon very much values our colleagues represented by SEIU, and we are looking forward to coming to a mutual agreement as soon as possible.”
