As ex-Detroit mayor Mike Duggan works to win over union voters in his independent bid for governor, records show he oversaw the layoffs of union hospital workers while becoming a millionaire at the Detroit Medical Center.
Duggan later brokered the sale of the nonprofit hospital system to a for-profit company, a move that was followed by years of safety violations, federal scrutiny, and labor disputes.
Documents reviewed by Metro Times show that while Duggan was president and CEO of the eight-hospital system between 2004 and 2012, unions repeatedly accused the hospital system of aggressive tactics to stop organizing and weaken bargaining units.
Newly uncovered documents show that DMC laid off an entire class of unionized hospital workers and replaced them with non-union employees in 2012, prompting a federal labor complaint. The dispute centered on Hutzel Hospital in Detroit, where AFSCME Council 25, Local 3695 accused DMC of violating federal labor law after 17 unionized hospital aides known as “nurse extenders” were laid off and their work transferred to non-union staff.
Federal labor officials ultimately dismissed the charge, but only after an arbitrator ruled that DMC had the contractual right to eliminate the union positions because the work was not exclusive to the bargaining unit.
Duggan took over the Detroit Medical Center in 2004 after state and local officials arranged a $50 million bailout to keep several of the financially struggling hospital system’s facilities open. Although Duggan had served as Wayne County prosecutor and a top aide to former county executive Ed McNamara, he had no background in hospital administration when he was selected to lead the system.
While Duggan ran DMC, overseeing labor disputes, layoffs, and outsourced services, his pay dramatically increased from about $545,000 in 2004 to more than $1 million by 2008 and $2.41 million in 2011, according to financial disclosures.
Ultimately, Duggan brokered the sale of DMC, a nonprofit, safety-net hospital system, to Vanguard Health Systems, a for-profit hospital chain backed by private-equity investors. Critics at the time warned the deal could lead to more layoffs and labor disputes, while jeopardizing services for the many uninsured and low-income patients who had come to rely on DMC.
Union supporters also warned that private ownership could weaken unions or labor standards.
Vanguard sold the system to its current owners, Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare, in 2013.
Duggan left DMC in 2012 to run for Detroit mayor, and was elected in 2013, but the hospital system continued to face scrutiny in the years after it was privatized.
The sale included unusually strict oversight requirements meant to protect the public interest. State officials created a monitoring system known as Legacy DMC to track whether the new owners followed through on promises involving capital investments, charity care, and core hospital services. The oversight system was designed to operate for at least a decade after the sale.
In the years that followed, regulators and watchdogs repeatedly raised concerns about conditions at DMC hospitals. In 2018, federal inspectors cited multiple infection-control and safety violations at Detroit Receiving Hospital and Harper University Hospital, prompting the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to warn that the deficiencies could jeopardize federal funding if they were not corrected.
Oversight officials also raised concerns about declining care and transparency. In 2019, members of the Legacy DMC oversight board publicly warned about what they described as a deterioration in care at some facilities.
The hospital system also faced federal scrutiny in 2023 when the U.S. Department of Justice announced a $29.7 million settlement with DMC and its corporate owners to resolve allegations that hospitals provided financial incentives to physicians in exchange for patient referrals. The government said the conduct allegedly violated the Anti-Kickback Statute and the False Claims Act. The settlement resolved the allegations without a determination of liability.
Before the sale, nurses attempting to organize at DMC hospitals accused the hospital system of interrogation, coercive surveillance, and other actions aimed at discouraging union activity during Duggan’s tenure as CEO. Those allegations led to unfair labor practice cases filed with the National Labor Relations Board in 2007 and 2008 involving Harper-Hutzel Hospital and Detroit Receiving Hospital.
In a December 2007 case involving Harper-Hutzel Hospital, the Michigan Nurses Association alleged interrogation, coercive surveillance, and changes in terms and conditions of employment. Another case filed in January 2008 involving Detroit Receiving Hospital alleged coercive rules, surveillance, and other actions affecting working conditions.
Community leaders also intervened during the organizing fight. More than 30 Detroit-area clergy and faith leaders signed an open letter urging DMC leadership to allow nurses to hold a fair union election.
Those conflicts have resurfaced as Duggan seeks labor support in the 2026 governor’s race. Despite the union-busting allegations at DMC, Duggan has received at least 15 endorsements from labor unions, his campaign said in February.
“15 labor unions didn’t endorse me to help one party or the other. They endorsed me because I deliver for working people,” Duggan posted on X.
In that now-deleted tweet, Duggan’s campaign falsely claimed it had received endorsements from the United Auto Workers Local 412 and the Operating Engineers and the Service Employees International Union. His campaign said it was an error.
Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, the frontrunner in the Democratic primary election for governor, has secured more prominent statewide labor support so far. Benson has already picked up endorsements from major unions such as the Michigan Nurses Association, which represents thousands of registered nurses and health care workers across the state, and the Michigan Laborers’ District Council, a powerful construction trades union with members involved in infrastructure and development projects. Duggan’s support has largely come from smaller building trades groups.
During Duggan’s tenure at DMC, former nurses and labor advocates said hospital leadership resisted union organizing efforts through tactics such as surveillance, retaliation, interrogations, banning pro-union literature, and attempting to classify some nurses as supervisors, which would make them ineligible for union representation. A settlement reached in 2008 allowed nurses to move forward with organizing efforts.
Teamsters Local 283, which represents lab assistants at Detroit Medical Center, also clashed with management during Duggan’s tenure. Union leaders said they fought for years to equalize pay after discovering that some longtime Black employees were making significantly less than newly hired white workers.
The eight-hospital system includes Children’s Hospital of Michigan, Detroit Receiving Hospital, Harper University Hospital, Huron Valley-Sinai Hospital, Hutzel Women’s Hospital, Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan, Sinai-Grace Hospital, and DMC Heart Hospital.
The disputes complicate Duggan’s current campaign message. As an independent candidate for governor, Duggan has been courting union endorsements and portraying himself as a supporter of organized labor, while also taking in big money from wealthy business executives, corporate political action committees, and Republican megadonors that have supported President Donald Trump.
Duggan’s campaign declined to comment for this story.