Ten thousand Teamster nurses at Corewell Health East in Southeast Michigan have reached a tentative agreement on a first contract after more than a year of tough negotiations, management stonewalling, and a strike authorization vote.
The agreement includes a 15 percent wage increase over three years, including 9.5 percent in the first year, a strong grievance procedure, and a staffing committee that gives nurses from every campus a direct voice in addressing issues.
Ten thousand nurses voted by three-to-one to join the Teamsters in November 2024 and Teamsters Local 2024 was formed. It has taken 13 months of contract negotiations and nurses standing together to finally achieve a tentative agreement.
Nurses walked out of bargaining in December to protest the company’s illegal takebacks and management intimidation.
In March members voted by 90 percent to authorize a strike if Corewell failed to deliver a fair first contract.
Now, the Teamsters Local 2024 Nurses for Nurses bargaining committee has won a tentative agreement that includes:
- A 15% wage increase over the three-year agreement (9.5% in the first year)
- A strong grievance procedure for contract enforcement
- Caps on average out-of-pocket health care premiums
- A staffing committee that allows nurses from each of the 9 campuses to raise staffing issues to management
- Department-level autonomy for decisions that affect individual units and UPCs
- Protections on benefits like PTO, bereavement, jury duty, and others so that CHE cannot unilaterally make changes to their policies without bargaining
Congratulations to Corewell Health East nurses and the Teamsters Local 2024 Nurses for Nurses bargaining team for achieving this milestone.
Nurses will be voting on the tentative agreement on dates to be announced soon.