Tentative Agreements Reached Possibly Avoiding Nurses Strike

(KNSI) — Tentative agreements between several hospitals and the Minnesota Nurses Association make it appear that a major nurses’ strike will be avoided.

The MNA says the three year agreements include an 18% pay increase for nurses in the Twin Cities and a 17% pay increase for nurses in the Twin Ports area. Also, “staffing changes won by MNA nurses in the tentative agreements will give nurses a say in how staffing levels are set and ensure changes to staffing levels benefit nurses and patients at the bedside,” according to the MNA website. It says staffing changes won by nurses vary by each tentative agreement, including “language to prevent reductions in staffing levels without consensus between nurses and management; help protect nurses from discipline when they raise concerns about unsafe assignments, and to trigger reviews of staffing levels by nurses and management in response to key measures of patient and nurse wellbeing and outcomes.”

Nurse negotiation leaders are recommending members vote yes to accept the contract agreements at the 15 Twin Cities and Twin Ports hospitals where nurses had planned to strike, which include those run by Children’s Minnesota, North Memorial, Allina Health, M Health Fairview, and HealthPartners in the twin cities area and, Essentia Health, and St. Luke’s in northern Minnesota.

“This tentative agreement is a historic win for nurses and patients at the bedside,” said Mary C. Turner, RN at North Memorial Hospital and President of the Minnesota Nurses Association. “For years, hospital executives have been pushing nurses out of the profession by under-staffing our units and under-valuing our nurses. This tentative agreement will help to keep nurses at the bedside, where we will keep fighting to oppose the corporate healthcare policies which threaten our hospital systems and the care our patients deserve.”

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