Report: Ascension Hospitals Disrespect Nurses’ Rights
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Three Michigan hospitals affiliated with Ascension Health System consistently refuse to respect workers’ freedom to join a union and bargain collectively, according to a new report by Interfaith Worker Justice (IWJ). The report shows the Catholic hospitals’ actions directly oppose long-standing Catholic social teachings. In fact, IWJ says, the anti-union behavior and worker disrespect demonstrated in the report represent “a fall from grace,” and so named the report: “Ascension Health: A Fall From Grace.”
In May 2010, a fact-finding delegation of 11 religious leaders, affiliated with IWJ, met with representatives of Ascension and visited employees of the hospitals—St. John Macomb-Oakland Hospitals in Warren and Madison Heights, Genesys Regional Medical Center in Grand Blanc and Borgess Medical Center in Kalamazoo. Some 700 registered nurses, members of the Michigan Nurses Association (MNA), an affiliate of National Nurses United (NNU), are involved in an ongoing struggle to gain a new collective bargaining agreement.
