DETROIT—After 16 months of contract negotiations and what workers describe as continued bad-faith tactics by Corewell Health, nearly 10,000 registered nurses (RN) have voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike. The nurses, members of Teamsters Local 2024, announced on Tuesday that nearly 90% of voting members supported the strike authorization. They hope to send a clear message to the Michigan healthcare conglomerate that they are prepared to walk off the job if a fair contract isn’t secured.
The strike authorization does not mean a walkout is imminent, but it gives the union’s bargaining team the power to call one if negotiations continue to stall, the union said. The newly organized nurses, who work across nine hospitals and campuses in southeastern Michigan, have been fighting for their first union contract since June 2025. Their demands center on safe nurse-to-patient ratios, fair wages, affordable health insurance, arbitrary disciplinary protection, and improved workplace safety for workers and patients alike.
“This overwhelming strike vote shows that nurses are done being bullied into silence while executives put profits over patients and gamble with our safety and our licenses,” said Rachel Szadyr, a cardiac ICU nurse and member of the bargaining committee at Corewell.
“It’s no secret that nurses everywhere are struggling,” she said. “We keep losing incredible nurses because of a rigged system that lets so‑called nonprofit hospitals pile more responsibility onto nurses, while stripping away the resources we need to provide safe care.”
The strike authorization vote marks the latest escalation in a high-profile battle between the newly unionized workforce and one of Michigan’s largest hospital systems—a virtual healthcare monopoly. In November 2024, the nurses made history by beating back an aggressive, $1.7 million union-busting campaign to join the Teamsters. That first victory, with nearly 63% of the vote going to the union, was hailed as one of the largest single union elections in the U.S. in decades.
But per the Teamsters, Corewell’s anti-union hostility did not end with the certification of the election—which should surprise no one. But since getting organized, the nurses say Corewell management has withheld job benefits given to non-union workers, eliminated “pull pay” for over 5,700 nurses, and terminated a student loan repayment program that hundreds of nurses were relying on.
“The clock is ticking for Corewell Health East to offer Teamsters nurses the contract they deserve—or 10,000 nurses will take this fight to the streets,” said Tom Erickson, lead negotiator and Teamsters Central Region International Vice President.
“This greedy corporate hospital system spent millions to try to stop these nurses from becoming Teamsters and now they are hemorrhaging even more money on anti-union attorneys who want to keep workers from getting the best possible contract.”
Negotiations between Local 2024 and Corewell collapsed most recently over the employer’s refusal to restore these job benefits. “Pull pay” ensures nurses receive a premium wage when they are temporarily assigned—or “pulled”—from their primary unit to work in another, a common practice that adds stress and responsibility. The union argues that unilaterally eliminating these benefits is not only a punitive measure against union workers but also a violation of labor law.
“Corewell is taking hard-earned money out of Teamsters nurses’ pockets,” said Mike Smith, lead negotiator for Local 2024. “Corewell is hiding behind buzzwords like ‘harmonizing’ which is just another way of imposing nonunion standards on nurses represented by Local 2024. This is illegal. While Corewell attacks nurses, the Teamsters will continue to fight back against their anti-union tactics and make sure that no nurse is left behind.”
The fight at Corewell is being watched closely by healthcare workers across the state and nation. It is part a wave of healthcare worker fights in Michigan, including organizing wins by SEIU Healthcare Michigan who are now fighting for their contract, another nurses strike by Teamsters at Henry Ford Genesys which has been going on now for nearly 200 days, and Michigan Nurses Association bargaining in northern and western Michigan.
This strike authorization is a necessary show of worker-power against a conglomerate they say is prioritizing its bottom line over patient care. Like nurses all over the state, and indeed the country, the main issues remain maintaining safe staffing ratios, safeguarding employees from arbitrary disciplinary action amidst chronic understaffing, and implementing systemic improvements to facilitate safe and humane patient care.
“Patients before profits” remains the slogan of nurses at Corewell, as well as nurses around the country, who continue fighting back against profit maximization schemes at the expense of everyone else.
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