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  • Ahead of Strike, Trinity Health Cancels Bargaining with Grand Haven Hospital Workers

SEIU Healthcare Michigan has filed 8 Unfair Labor Practice Charges against Trinity Health

  • Workers will host a speaking program on the picket line starting at 8am on Friday, August 4th

  • The strike will take place at Trinity Health Grand Haven Hospital, 1309 Sheldon Rd, Grand Haven, MI 49417 

Grand Haven, MI –  With only a day left before the strike, Trinity Health has walked away from a bargaining session scheduled for Thursday with workers represented by SEIU Healthcare Michigan. Thursday’s negotiations were scheduled by the federal mediator. 

Workers plan to walk off their shifts at 6am and will host a press conference at 8am to voice their concerns around bad faith bargaining, low wages, Trinity’s repeated and illegal attempt to undermine their union, and a lack of community investment by Trinity Health.

“It’s clear that Trinity Health is more focused on violating worker’s rights rather than solving problems and coming to an agreement on a fair contract. We cannot recruit and retain staff at our hospital until Trinity raises wages that are competitive with what other West Michigan hospital workers make. We are ready to strike on Friday and demand that our rights are respected,” said Erin Dexter, ultrasound tech at Trinity Health Grand Haven. 

Unfair Labor Practice charges filed by SEIU Healthcare Michigan within the past six months describe a series of illegal actions by Trinity Health, including nearly a dozen separate allegations, such as:

  • Interfering with, restraining, and coercing its employees in the exercise of protected rights under Section 7 & 8 of the Act,

  • Refusing to bargain with the union, as well as bad faith bargaining, in violation of Section 8(a)(5) of the Act.

  • Pressuring employees to sign anti-union petitions through threats, coercion, misrepresentation and fraud at captive audience meetings while ignoring their rights under Section 8(a)(1) of the Act.

  • Illegally threatening employees with discipline  & other consequences if they dare to exercise their protected rights to picket & strike, in violation of Section 8(a)(1) of the Act.

  • Promises of employee benefits if they reject the union and sign a management-supported decertification petition, in violation of their rights under Section 8(a)(1) of the Act.

Workers chose August 4th as the date for the strike to build awareness of the crucial role they play every year in providing care for the Coast Guard Festival. For a city with a population of 11,000, the influx of 350,000 annual visitors to the festival causes a strain on all services. 

Last December, almost 200 North Ottawa Community Hospital workers voted to affiliate with SEIU after the hospital was acquired by Trinity and renamed “Trinity Grand Haven.” SEIU represents Diagnostic Imaging Techs, Lab Assistants and Technologists, Housekeepers, Dietary Workers, and Social Workers, Unit Clerks, Patient Care Associates, Medics, and many other positions at Trinity Grand Haven. 

Trinity Health Ann Arbor Lab Workers Win Union Election

Trinity Health is no stranger to union-busting, after a months-long campaign in Ann Arbor, Trinity’s antics and actions failed to stop 70 lab workers at the “Trinity Health Outpatient Laboratories” from going on to win their union election on July 28, 2023.  Trinity threw every trick in the union-busting handbook at these workers, including illegally firing 11 workers, and still could not stop workers from organizing to improve their lives and the patients they care for.

SEIU Healthcare Michigan has filed for an injunction on behalf of the terminated workers which would order Trinity Health to reinstate the workers immediately to their former jobs, with full back pay & benefits. The injunction is currently before the National Labor Relations Board to hear and review.