10,000 Teamsters nurses reach agreement that could shift bargaining in Michigan

DETROIT—After little over a year of bargaining with Corewell Health East, 10,000 registered nurses represented by Teamsters Local 2024 have finally reached a tentative agreement for their first contract.

“We could not be prouder to have reached this milestone for our union,” stated the bargaining committee in an official statement.

The proposed tentative agreement, won in a post-right-to-work state, has yet to be voted on but comes after several months of struggle, including a fight that saw the newly organized nurses vote to strike on March 17.

Racheal Szadyr, a cardiac ICU nurse, expressed the harsh reality on why such action needed to be taken at the time. “It’s no secret that nurses everywhere are struggling. We keep losing incredible nurses because of a rigged system that lets so‑called ‘non-profit’ hospitals pile more responsibility onto nurses, while stripping away the resources we need to provide safe care,” she said.

“This isn’t sustainable, and it’s exactly why we are fighting for the best possible contract.”

The historic first agreement runs from the first full pay period after the vote to March 1, 2029. Over this period, the overall wages are set to increase by 15%, with the first year increasing at 5.5%, the second and third by 4%, and the final year by 1.5%.

The tentative agreement also comes with “strong grievance procedures, caps on out-of-pocket healthcare premiums, a staffing committee, department level autonomy, and protections on benefits,” said the Teamsters bargaining committee.

The long road to the agreement

The nurses first voted to unionize back in November 2024. It was an upset for private healthcare in Michigan, as Corewell is the largest healthcare system in the state, especially after their mega-merger with Beaumont Healthcare. That pair-up created one of the largest hospital monopolies in the state.

In 2025 alone, Corewell racked up $1.3 billion in profit. According to the Teamsters, just a year before, they spent nearly $1.7 million to stop organizing efforts.

Yet the organizing efforts came as a result of years of neglect from Corewell, as the company accumulated larger profits while demanding more from their staff, resulting in extremely dangerous patient-to-staff ratios. It remains to be seen whether the patient-to-staff ratios have been adequately addressed, however, one nurse at the Royal Oak campus told People’s World.

The austerity practices from Corewell left RNs with few options except to organize their workplace. Once organized, Teamsters filed several ULP charges against Corewell and their pro-business lawyers from Miller Johnson PLC and Feinberg, Dumont, and Brennan, alleging unfair labor practices, failure to bargain in good faith, and union-busting.

Lead negotiator and trustee of Local 2024 Mike Smith said Corewell’s actions are “forcing Teamsters nurses to exhaust their accrued paid time off before allowing them to use unpaid leave for negotiation dates.”

Such tactics did not discourage the organized nurses, as another member of the negotiation team and RN Sarah John said, “It’s time Corewell gives us the respect we’ve more than earned. We’re not backing down.”

If approved, the tentative agreement could set the tone for the rest of the healthcare industry in Michigan. Recently, University of Michigan nurses at Ann Arbor avoided a strike when an agreement was reached and approved by the membership. Now with Corewell doing the same, it could help potentially end the nearly year-long ULP strike in Grand Blanc against Henry Ford Health. Those nurses are also Teamsters.

Ultimately, this organizing drive shows nurses, and indeed workers everywhere, that collective action can bring material gains despite the increased spending from big business on anti-union campaigns.

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