Alma, Mt. Pleasant Nurses May Strike Soon

In this April 2, 2020 photo, a nurse at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle holds a medical face shield prior to the start of her shift in a triage tent outside the Harborview emergency department used to intake arriving patients who have respiratory symptoms. The face shield was 3-D printed and assembled by a member of a network of volunteers using a design approved and hosted by the U.S. National Institutes of Health. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

Nurses in both Alma and Mt. Pleasant are planning strike authorization votes.

The nurses at MyMichigan in Alma and McLaren Central have been working without contracts since November. Shenan Shinabarger is president of the local Michigan Nurses Association and a nurse at MyMichigan Alma. She says the groups are fighting for what patients and nurses need by standing up to corporate executives. During a strike authorization vote, nurces will decide whether to call for a strike. A 10-day notice will be given before the beginning of a strike.

The union joins other nurses across the state and the country looking to reach new agreements, including at Michigan Medicine in Ann Arbor, and Ascension Borgess Hospital in Kalamazoo. Between Mt. Pleasant and Alma there are about 250 nurses working for the two different health systems.