Trinity Health Michigan Refutes "Absurd and Grossly Distorted" Claims from SEIU Healthcare of Michigan
March 16, 2023
Contact:
Kevin DiCola
Director of Communications
734-670-8029
CANTON, Mich. - Trinity Health Michigan denounces the baseless and libelous claims made by SEIU Healthcare of Michigan following the sudden and unannounced absences of lab employees at three of our outpatient blood draw sites.
In a press release, SEIU Healthcare of Michigan claimed the lab workers were held out of work for expressing worker and patient safety concerns. This is an absurd and grossly distorted description.
Here are the facts:
- On March 9, 2023, several of our Ann Arbor outpatient lab workers voluntarily and with no notice abandoned their duties. At one location, employees exited the back door, leaving patients in the waiting room.
- As a result of their actions, employment has ended for 11 lab employees who put patient safety at risk when they left their scheduled shift unannounced and abandoned patients at the point of care.
- There is no record of lab colleagues reporting any workplace safety concerns on March 9 to lab directors, nor escalating any such concerns to upline leaders. Any prior reported safety concerns brought to leadership were investigated and immediately addressed.
On the issue of compensation, Trinity Health Michigan is committed to providing competitive and sustainable wages for all of our colleagues, including those who provide vital services in our labs. Already in 2023, lab employees were notified of a market adjustment to increase their wages, beginning in April. This is in addition to increases all of our colleagues in southeast Michigan received in March.
"It appears the SEIU manipulated our employees into abandoning their patients as part of some stunt to exaggerate the union’s political influence. In the process, they endangered the patients who entrusted us with their care," said Rob Casalou, president and CEO of Trinity Health Michigan.
Trinity Health Michigan will provide accurate information in our continued effort to maintain a direct working relationship with our colleagues.