MACOMB, Mich.—Hundreds of nurses and service workers at McLaren Macomb Hospital walked off the job Monday morning, launching a three-day unfair labor practice (ULP) strike after months of stalled contract negotiations.
Members of the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) Local 40, representing both nurses and support staff, voted overwhelmingly to authorize the strike, which began at 7 a.m. on July 7 and is set to continue until July 10 at 6:59 a.m.
The nurses’ unit, however, faces an extended lockout until Saturday due to the hospital’s commitment to five-day contracts with replacement workers.
The strike comes in response to what union leaders describe as McLaren Macomb’s relentless refusal to bargain in good faith. Workers are demanding an end to unfair labor practices, stronger patient care standards, living wages, protections against subcontracting, and improved working conditions.
“We have been having great difficulty giving quality care; we have great staffing issues to provide that to the community,” said Maria Szejbach, chief steward of OPEIU Local 40.
“This is our way of saying enough is enough. We struggle to do our jobs every day, and that is why healthcare is suffering with workers.”
Hospital in crisis
At the heart of the struggle are critical issues for workers and their patients that remain unresolved. The hospital has pushed for unrestricted subcontracting rights, threatening job security for union workers, all while refusing to implement wage scales that keep up with inflation.
The union’s proposal included an eight-step wage system with retroactive raises and annual increases tied to cost-of-living adjustments—a stark contrast to management’s offer of stagnant wages with meager 2% annual bumps.
Safety protections are another major point of contention. While the union has demanded enforceable language to ensure workplace safety, hospital management has dismissed these concerns. They are currently offering only vague assurances that workers can voice complaints to their supervisors. Similarly, workers are fighting against forced overtime and unfair shift distribution, which they say leads to burnout and inconsistent scheduling.
McLaren Macomb has also rejected the union’s demands for equitable healthcare benefits, improved paid time off, and leave policies matching those of other unionized hospital staff. Instead, the administration has doubled down on its unilateral decision-making, which prompted multiple NLRB charges for bad-faith bargaining, unlawful changes to working conditions, and attempts to undermine the union.
Hospital makes misleading claims
In response to the strike, McLaren Macomb released a statement blaming the union for insisting on “unrealistic terms” that allegedly jeopardize the hospital’s financial stability, citing recent Medicaid reimbursement cuts. But workers argue that the hospital’s own corporate practices—outsourcing jobs, suppressing wages, and ignoring staffing crises—are the real threats to long-term sustainability.
As picket lines formed outside the medical center, the message from picketing workers was that this fight is not just about contracts but about the future of healthcare labor.
“This unity is essential to improving the hospital for both staff and patients,” said one striking nurse. With tensions showing no signs of cooling, the community now watches to see whether McLaren Macomb will finally listen to the workers who keep its doors open and care for the patients.
Part of larger struggle
The fight at McLaren Macomb isn’t happening in isolation—it’s part of a rising tide of healthcare workers across Michigan pushing back against corporate greed. From newly-unionized nurses at Corewell Healthcare demanding fair first contracts to UPHS-Marquette nurses confronting their private equity owners, hospital workers are drawing a clear line between them and the bosses: Patient care suffers when profits come before people.
The real question at hand isn’t whether McLaren can weather a three-day strike, but how long it can ignore the nurses and service staff who form the backbone of its operations. With six active NLRB charges already filed and workers showing remarkable unity on the picket lines, this strike may well prove to be just the opening salvo in a much longer battle for the soul of Michigan healthcare.
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