The Michigan Nurses Association filed an unfair labor practice complaint against Traverse City, Mich.-based Munson Medical Center.
The complaint, filed with the National Labor Relations Board, alleges the medical center used stalling tactics during negotiations by failing to provide nurses with timely economic proposals.
"As nurses, we made a proposal on wages to the hospital more than two months ago. Managers have yet to offer a response or counterproposal," Cindy Rydahl, a registered nurse at Munson and bargaining team member, said in a prepared statement. "Right now, our hospital is ranked seventh in the state according to U.S. News and World Report. But it is going to take a fair economic proposal to attract and retain nurses to continue to provide the highest quality of care to northern Michigan."
The medical center disputed the nurses' allegations.
In a statement to Becker's, medical center spokesperson Rachel Roe said both sides agreed to complete negotiations on noneconomic issues before discussing wages, benefits and other economics.
"The union did not request the first bargaining session until four months after the election. MMC received a partial economic proposal from the union 10 months after the election. And, a complete economic proposal was not presented to us until August 2018 — a full year after the election," the statement reads. "Now that we have a complete proposal, we are analyzing it so that we can make a fully informed decision."
"We have just learned of these allegations and are confident that we have acted within the law and these charges will be dropped after further investigation," said Ms. Roe.
Both sides continue to negotiate.
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