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November 14 2004Two years later, still no end in sight for Petoskey nurse strikeSome back at work, others go elsewhereByRecord-Eagle staff writer PETOSKEY - Appeals from mediators, the governor, a bishop, a congressman and 5,000 local petition signers couldn't stop it. It endures after millions of dollars spent, at an untold cost in patient and community confidence. Today marks the two-year anniversary of the longest nursing strike in U.S. history - at Northern Michigan Hospital in Petoskey - and no end appears in sight. "The nurses have voted twice (for union representation). They have a legal right to a contract. I have never seen anything like this," said Sharon Norton, business agent for Teamsters Local 406, the nurses' union. Hospital management did not call the strike, countered NMH vice president and chief nurse executive Reezie DeVet. "We believe that the power to end the strike is with the striking nurses and the Teamsters," she said. About half the hospital's then-470 nurses took to the picket line on Nov. 14, 2002, after months of negotiations failed to produce a first contract. Two years later, virtually all the striking nurses work elsewhere - other hospitals, senior care facilities, home health care. But the connection to the hospital they walked out of remains. "I still do feel strongly that this is where I'm supposed to be working. This is my home; this is my community," said striking nurse Dianne Rinock, as she stood outside the large brick hospital on a recent cold, gray day, a picket sign in hand. Northern Michigan Hospital suffered an operating loss of $11 million in 2003, mostly attributable to the $14 million-plus management spent to provide replacements for striking nurses, according to recently released hospital financial documents. But hospital officials say they weathered the worst of a financial storm caused by the strike and moved away from higher-cost strike-replacement nurses to permanent hires and traveling nurses. "I am pleased to tell you that most of the strike cost is now behind us, operating results for July and August were positive and we are anticipating a profitable 2005," hospital president and CEO Thomas Mroczkowski reported in a recent mailing to area residents. COMMUNITY IMPACT       The strike's impact on local health care and the area economy is much-debated, but the labor impasse clearly divided area residents. "We have all seen in our churches and our offices people who have lost friendships over this, people who are under a tremendous amount of pressure," said the Rev. Tom Arthur of the Petoskey United Methodist Church. Arthur and other area clergy this fall urged both hospital management and the Teamsters to "reconcile" in the spirit of community healing. Local resident Linda Kerr said she faults striking nurses and the Teamsters for the protracted labor dispute. "The strike should never have happened, plain and simple," she said. "Unions shouldn't have anything to do with the medical field." But Alanson resident Lynn Walker said hospital officials spend much more money fighting the nurses' unionization than it would cost to settle the strike. "I would like to know why management is willing to spend millions and millions on traveling nurses instead of spending the money on their local nurses?" she said. THE ISSUES       Striking nurses' complaints with management over compensation are mostly about fairness and consistency, many said. "The raises, even the benefits, were so discretionary and haphazard," said striking nurse Sharon Bryant. DeVet said hospital management always seeks to make sure nurse pay and benefits are competitive. "Where people feel there are inconsistencies, those are things we look to address," she said. Nurses too often have to care for too many patients at once, said striking nurse Sandy Marquardt. "Nurses are overloaded," she said. "They can't give adequate care, and that affects patient safety. No one in management could see we were taking serious risks with patients' lives and with nurses' licenses." DeVet, however, said hospital management studies various databases showing NMH nurse staffing compares well to similar hospitals nationwide. "The reports that we receive consistently show that we are staffed either at or above what like organizations are, both in terms of total care hours as well as RN-to-patient ratios," she said. The strikers also seek a greater say in patient care. DeVet said nurse input is gathered and utilized at multiple levels - in unit-based councils, at a monthly meeting including the chairpersons of each of the unit councils, and at a monthly nursing executive council that includes nurse-representatives elected by the nursing staff. Nurses also serve on hospital committees for such things as patient safety, infection control and environmental safety, she said. But striking nurse Patti Adelaine said the committees frequently fail to make nurses "equal members of the team," and often put management and budgetary priorities above improving the quality of patient care. Several striking nurses said some NMH doctors verbally abused them. "It was a very dysfunctional relationship," Bryant said. "As people have gone off and worked in other places and been treated with respect and dignity, they are no longer willing to tolerate that abuse anymore." LIFE ON STRIKE       Some striking nurses took jobs in nearby communities. But for others, sticking to their chosen profession requires many hours on the road and time away from their families. Striking nurse Pat Woodside until recently drove every week from Harbor Springs to work at St. John's hospital in Detroit. In one year, the commute alone put nearly 19,000 miles on the family vehicle, she said. "My daughter was 13 when the strike started, and she got upset every time I left," she said. "I stopped traveling because I felt I needed to be here for my daughter in her teen-aged years." Woodside now works near her home as a home health-care nurse. Rinock took work in Ishpeming in the Upper Peninsula the first year of the strike; then at Spectrum hospital in Grand Rapids. She now drives to work every week to Sturgis, on the Indiana border, a five-hour commute. "I live in a motel," she said. "My husband is very supportive. His philosophy is, 'Whatever we have to do to get through this, we will do.' " Both nurses said the long commutes in Michigan winters lead to frequent white-knuckle moments. "We had times driving back when we actually lost control, spun in circles on the highway," Rinock said. COMING BACK       Nurse Michelle Gaudreau said she went on strike from NMH for the sake of her profession. Nearly two years later, she's returned to work there for her well-being and her family, she said. Gaudreau is one of 75 striking nurses who returned to NMH, hospital spokeswoman Barbara Allen said. Gaudreau, an intensive care unit nurse, worked nights while on strike at Cheboygan Memorial Hospital's emergency department, about a 45-minute drive one-way from her home in Harbor Springs. Being apart from her 14-month-old daughter for long periods of time proved intolerable, Gaudreau said. "I would leave the house at 6 p.m. and wouldn't get home until 8 or 9 a.m., and she would already be gone to daycare," she said. The night shift and commute left Gaudreau's energy and motivation sapped, she said. "I was getting sick all the time, catching whatever bug was around," she said. Gaudreau said she discussed whether to return to NMH with family members, friends and her fellow striking nurses. "The decision was very difficult to make," she said. "I still believe in the cause. I feel that nursing needs stronger advocacy, and as a whole we need to stick together." Norton, the Teamsters business agent, said hospital management is wrong if it thinks Gaudreau and other nurses who've returned have turned their backs on the union or the reasons for striking. "They come to us, often in tears, agonizing over it," Norton said. "These people have been forced to return out of desperate situations - financially and emotionally." Gaudreau, who returned to NMH Oct. 27, said she's glad to be back working in intensive care. "I truly feel at home there; it's kind of my niche," she said. Gaudreau added her bosses and nurses who didn't strike welcomed her. "I had always respected their decision (not to strike)," she said. "Everybody had to make their own decision." FROM HERE       There is nothing to indicate the strike will end any time soon. The Teamsters will continue to represent NMH's nurses until a vote is held that decertifies the union. But the Teamsters won the last vote in 2003 by a wider margin than when the union was first installed. Federal labor law has no provisions to push the dispute out of its current standoff. Said DeVet: "We have gone and bargained in good faith and in-line with all of the National Labor Relations Board rules." Union officials offered to submit to arbitration, but DeVet reiterated management's position that it will not give up its rights to a third party. Community and governmental appeals haven't moved the dispute toward resolution. Nurses who remain on the outside, on the picket line, said their resolve remains strong. They believe nurses at other hospitals will grow intolerant of similar working conditions, as a nursing shortage crisis grows and demands placed upon nurses increase. "It's a social justice issue for me," Bryant said. "To a large extent, this is about (management) keeping women in their place." Added Adelaine: "Our problems are not new everywhere else. Some of these issues are everywhere. We just happen to be the place that said, 'Enough. We've had enough.' "
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