The rally and protest at the University of Michigan Board of Regents meeting on Thursday is the latest diversion by the MNA-UMPNC aimed at preventing Michigan Medicine nurses from uniting with other sections of the working class to fight intolerable conditions at the hospital in Ann Arbor.
At a series of union meetings held nearly two weeks after an overwhelming vote to authorize a strike, the MNA-UMPNC told nurses to “be patient” and rely on “political influencers” in the Democratic administration of Michigan Governor Whitmer.
A warning must be issued that the complacent “wait and see” response of the EMU chapter of the American Association of University Professors (EMU-AAUP) leaves the faculty vulnerable to this strikebreaking threat.
While Michigan Medicine has responded to the overwhelming vote by nurses for strike action with a plan to hire strike breakers, the nurses' union has failed to even set a strike date.
At meetings last week, more than 4,000 of the 6,200 nurses at Michigan Medicine voted by 96 percent for safe staffing ratios and an end to mandatory overtime.