When Will It End? For the Labor Movement, the Stakes are Huge in Petoskey‘s Nursing Strike

April 23, 2003

To the sound of thundering cheers and a standing ovation, Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa made a promise to Petoskey‘s striking nurses at a rally held on Saturday, April 12: “I want to make a pledge,“ he said. “When we complete this strike, I will return to Petoskey and lead you back into that hospital.“
Hoffa and labor leaders from across Michigan and Ontario spoke to a full house of 800 or so at the Knights of Columbus Hall just south of town in an event that made Petoskey the epicenter of organized labor in North America. Throughout the day, gleaming semi trucks from the Teamsters and their Canadian counterparts buzzed through town on highway 131, blasting their horns to the cheers of some 200 picketers outside Northern Michigan Hospital before and after the rally.
The rally brought together a who‘s who of the midwest‘s labor movement, with speakers including the presidents of Michigan‘s AFL-CIO; Communication Workers of America; United Auto Workers; Michigan Education Association (MEA); Retail & Wholesale Department Store Union; and the Teamsters vowing their continued support for the nursing strike in Petoskey. Thousands of dollars in checks were contributed on top of the more than $100,000 already contributed to the strike the the national Teamsters organization.
Yet, despite many vows by labor leaders and nurses to hold out until the bitter end and a new contract settlement with the hospital, it was clear that there is no end in sight for one of the nation‘s longest nursing strikes.
Unless someone budges, that is, on either the hospital or the union‘s side.

BITTER RECRIMINATIONS
“We do see an end to this when the Teamsters sign our final offer or bring the nurses back to work,“ says hospital spokesman Tom Spencer. “The Teamsters control the destiny of the strike. It‘s not our strike -- it‘s the Teamsters‘ strike.“
Judging by the spirit at the rally, however, the strike which began some 160 days ago on Nov. 14, 2002, won‘t be ending any time soon. Each speaker vowed to continue the strike until the hospital negotiates a new contract regarding pay, benefits and patient care.
“Our plight has reached every state in this country and Canada,“ said Julia Hulderman, R.N., speaking on behalf of striking nurses at the rally. “As an employee of NMH, my voice didn‘t matter, but as a Teamster, it will be heard.“
“Respect“ and “dignity“ were keywords at the rally, with participants making bitter claims that they hadn‘t received either from a hospital board made up of “millionaires.“
“This strike is about respect as professionals and as human beings,“ said Dave Bowman, a Petoskey resident and representative of the MEA. “A hospital without its nurses has lost its soul. For 150 days the nurses have walked the picket line for respect from an employer that runs this hospital as if it were a plantation in the 1860 and it owned that plantation and it owned you.“
Bowman added that the hospital board had rejected calls by a state mediator and Congressman Bart Stupak to return to the bargaining table as well as a petition signed by thousands of area residents. He said that he recently traveled to Grand Rapids to have major back surgery because he couldn‘t support NMH. “I would not and could not accept treatment from a facility that doesn‘t treat its employees with respect.“

HIGH STAKES
A number of blasts were directed at Petoskey Mayor Kate Marshall, who has been pushing to have the nurse‘s MASH 406th tent taken down on city property adjacent to the hospital. The tent has served as shelter for picketing nurses who endured temperatures as low as 25 below zero this winter and are now exposed to sharp winds coming off Little Traverse Bay.
“They want to take that tent away and they‘re going at every angle trying to beat you down to go back in the hospital,“ said Ted Iorio, attorney for the strikers. “But with a tent or without a tent, we‘re going to still be there.“
Petoskey‘s nursing strike has become a national story in that stakes are extremely high for both hospitals across the country and for organized labor.
Currently, the Teamsters represent 25,000-30,000 health care workers across the nation and are competing with other unions to organize America‘s nurses who are largely frustrated with wages, benefits and on-the-job stress. As noted by one striker in a recent Express article, “One day if they can organize nurses across the country, the teamsters will be the biggest union in America and they won‘t be associated with trucking any more.“

THE WORD FROM JIMMY
Charismatic Teamster leader Jimmy Hoffa looked like he was in for the long haul.
Hoffa estimated that NMH is paying around $4,000 per week to the U.S. Nursing Corp. of Colorado for its strike-breaking replacement nurses. “Over 150 days, that‘s $8 million they‘ve been paying scabs,“ he told the crowd. “We could have settled five contracts with that -- we could wrap this up in one day.“
Commenting on the large number of labor leaders on hand to support the nurses at the rally, Hoffa said the strike in Petoskey had significance to unions across the country.
“We‘re going to make sure this is victorious,“ he said. “You‘re showing solidarity that spills over into other organizing drives across the country among the various unions. You are fighting every battle, and thank you for that.“
Hoffa said the rally reminded him of those he attended as a child when his father and namesake ran the Teamsters.
“You and your kids are going to remember this for the rest of your lives,“ he predicted. “This is the battle of Petoskey and we‘re going to win this battle.“
Hoffa‘s prediction aside, the statemate continues with the hospital standing by its original offer.
“We‘ll maintain services as long as the strike continues,“ said Spencer on behalf of NMH. “We‘re committed to doing that and it wouldn‘t be prudent to predict how long the strike will continue.
“Hopefully the strike will end soon,“ he added. “We‘ve got two-and-a-half million dollars on the table in new money in wages and benefits and that was one heck of an offer made to avert the strike. Unfortunately, we weren‘t able to avert it.“