Members of a major Minnesota nurses union have said they favor going on strike if negotiations don’t resolve differences with management of several health systems in the Twin Cities and Duluth.þþAround 15,000 members of the Minnesota Nurses Association cast ballots Monday on whether to authorize a strike, with the union announcing late Monday night that its members voted “overwhelmingly” in favor.þþ“Nurses do not take this decision lightly, but we are determined to take a stand at the bargaining table, and on the sidewalk if necessary, to put patients before profits in our hospitals,” union President Mary Turner said in a statement after the vote.þþThe vote sets up another phase in negotiations that go back to last March, according to the union. The disagreements appear to be over staffing levels, working conditions and paid family leave.þþUnion officials say one of the biggest issues is retention and that understaffing contributes to overwork. They say nurses are caring for twice as many patients as normal, they're having to skip breaks, are becoming burned out and leaving the profession altogether. While the conditions existed before the COVID-19 pandemic, they are worse now.þþHospitals say they want to see progress at the bargaining table. Some systems, including Allina Health, say they have offered increases of 10.25 percent over three years along with other compensation, and commitments to addressing other issues raised by the union.þþOfficials with nurses union say that contracts for Twin Cities nurses expired at the end of May and Duluth nurses at the end of June.þþThe union needed a supermajority to authorize the strike vote, about two-thirds of members. It did not release vote totals late Monday, saying only that the measure passed “overwhelmingly.”þþThe vote gives the elected nurse negotiators the ability to call a strike, with a 10-day notice to employers.þþMNA officials say 15 hospitals at seven health systems between the Twin Cities and Duluth would be affected by the strike. In addition to Allina, they are M Health Fairview, Children's Hospital, North Memorial and HealthPartners, specifically Methodist Hospital in St. Louis Park. In Duluth, it's Essentia and St Luke's.þþIn a statement after the vote results were announced, Allina Health said it was ÿdisappointed the union choose to take a strike authorization vote instead of working towards a fair and sustainable contract. A strike does not benefit anyone and will only further delay reaching a settlement at the bargaining table.ÿþþAllina said it's looking forward to another negotiating session on Aug. 30 — and pointed to a contract agreement recently reached with union nurses at its Hastings facility.þþThe Twin Cities Hospitals Group, which represents Fairview, Children's, North Memorial and Methodist, issued a statement also expressing disappointment in the vote outcome and calling on the union ÿto agree to mediation and return to the table to negotiate with the hospitals in good faith.ÿþþThe group called the union's wage-increase proposal ÿunrealistic and unaffordableÿ — and said it has reached agreement with the union in other areas such as addressing workplace violence, as well as diversity, equity and inclusion.þþSt. Luke's in Duluth said it remains committed to ÿbargaining in good faithÿ with the union, and wants to bring in a mediator to those talks.þþAlan Benson, an associate professor at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota, said a strike is likely something that both sides have prepared for.þþ“Long before we've even reached this point, there's going to be movement on both sides, the union will have put money into a strike fund to supplement wages for the nurses who go on strike, the hospitals have developed contingency plans and potentially train people to fill in those vital roles,” Benson said.þþ
Source: mprnews.org
