DETROIT – Emergency room health care workers at a Detroit hospital went on an anticipated strike this week over frustrations related to labor and long wait times.
Health care workers in the emergency department at Ascension St. John Hospital walked out of their workplace on Thursday, April 18. Doctors, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners who formed a union said earlier this month that their contract negotiations had been fruitless for months.
The strike that followed this week was anticipated by both sides of the issue. The union said earlier this month that a strike was likely due to a breakdown of union negotiations.
Emergency room staff on the picket line told Local 4 that their strike is about more than just money. Their main focus: Working conditions.
One of the union’s biggest concerns a lack of properly trained workers in the emergency room, which they say creates a dangerous situation for patients.
“We’ve had enough. How many more patient lives do we have to put at risk by being short-staffed, by having 16 or 17-hour wait times, by letting these patients sit out there scared? How much longer are we going to take this?” said Casey Kolp, a health care worker on strike.
TeamHealth, which provides physician staffing services for U.S. facilities, said the “median door to doctor time” at the hospital’s ER had decreased from 25 minutes in 2023 to 15 minutes in 2024.
Emergency rooms in hospitals across Metro Detroit have experienced long wait times, short staffing, and other issues in the last few years. Workers at Ascension St. John said earlier this month that frustrations over staffing issues had been building for years.
ER staff had even worked together to make a website to warn the public about what’s happening in their departments. They’re hoping a strike will move the issue in the right direction.
“A lot of tears were shed this morning,” Dr. John Bahling said Thursday. “Nobody wanted this [strike], but we’re begging for help.”
Allies from other unions joined the picket line Thursday to show their solidarity.
“Currently they have all the doctors locked out,” Dr. Bahling said. “What it says is that the people with the most power in the hospital -- and that’s your doctors -- are standing up for the people that maybe can’t stand up for themselves.”
The strike could impact patient care. The hospital said there is a “comprehensive contingency plan” in place to ensure that patient services won’t be interrupted.
The hospital also emphasized that the physicians and providers who staff their emergency department are not directly employed by Ascension St. John Hospital. Those workers are “furnished to St. John Hospital through a contract with TeamHealth,” officials said.
According to the ER staff’s website -- saveouremergencyroom.com -- the president of TeamHealth is also reportedly the president of St. John Emergency Services, which they say staffs the Detroit hospital.
It wasn’t clear how long the strike was expected to last.
Below is part of a statement from TeamHealth.
“While clinicians affiliated with the Greater Detroit Association of Emergency Physicians are on strike, TeamHealth has worked closely with St. John Hospital to ensure the emergency department remains fully staffed and day-to-day operations will not be interrupted. Patients needing critical emergency care during this time should continue to come to the emergency department at Ascension St. John Hospital.
“We have negotiated in good faith with the union, and any statement to the contrary is false. We invite the union’s leadership to return to the bargaining table and secure a resolution on reasonable and sustainable terms.”
TeamHealth