|
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
January 4, 2005NMH union agent steps downByRecord-Eagle staff writer PETOSKEY - A key figure in the more than two-year-old nurses strike at Northern Michigan Hospital is stepping off the picket lines but vows to remain involved in the cause. Teamsters Local 406 business agent Sharon Norton retired after 29 years with the union, which represents the striking nurses. Her last day in the union's Petoskey office, in the shadow of the hospital on U.S. 31, was Dec. 31. "I've put off my retirement date twice because of this strike. But it's time," she said. Norton cited increasing family needs calling her to spend more time in her hometown of Traverse City. "I've spent more than 700 nights at the Comfort Inn in Petoskey over the past two years," she said. "But it's the (striking) nurses who are the ones who have really sacrificed. I've gotten a paycheck every two weeks for the past two years. They haven't." Striking nurse Patti Adelaine said Norton will be missed. "Sharon is such an advocate for people's rights. She has such energy and enthusiasm," she said. Teamsters attorney Ted Iorio called Norton "one of the most thoughtful, hard-working people you would ever want to meet." "The hospital missed a real opportunity, because they never could have asked for a more conscientious person to represent their RNs, or a person more willing to be accommodating and fair," he said. Norton said she will remain a familiar face to the nurses who have been such a part of her life the last few years. "This stopped being a job a long time ago," she said. "These nurses are my friends, and their cause is so right."
|
|
