Minnesota Nurses Association holds strike vote Monday as union advocates for improved staffing ratios
A Minnesota nurses union is holding an unfair labor practice strike vote on Monday as thousands of employees are working without a contract, and others are facing a contract expiration at the end of the month.
The Minnesota Nurses Association, which represents 15,000 nurses across 13 hospitals in the Twin Cities and Duluth area, says if a supermajority of nurses pass the vote, it would give negotiators the ability to call for a strike at any time, after providing a 10-day notice.
"We have consistently come to the bargaining table in good faith and been transparent about our proposals, yet have received stonewalling, interference and retaliation in return," said President of the MNA Chris Rubesch.
The union says they've brought plans regarding safer staffing ratios, workplace violence prevention measures and scheduling to the bargaining table but "hospital executives have refused to listen." Nurses say the patient-to-nurse ratio is unsafe and unmanageable; in some instances, especially on overnight shifts, they say one nurse is overseeing six or more patients.
Nurses are also asking for more money in their current bargaining agreement.
"That's not money for my back pocket, it's for the patients, right? It's human beings taking care of other human beings. We can't do this with AI, we can't do this with robots," said Ericka Helling, an ICU nurse at M Health Fairview Southdale.
The MNA alleges the hospitals have retaliated by surveilling union conversations and refusing to provide information that is necessary to bargain.
Negotiations started in March for the Twin Cities nurses, who are now working without a contract. The Duluth-area nurses started negotiating in April, and are facing a contract expiration date of June 30.
"For decades, nurses have been sounding the alarm about increasingly unsafe staffing levels in our hospitals, leading to the current crisis we are experiencing now. As more patients experience adverse health events, more nurses are subjected to violence and more healthcare professionals are fleeing bedside care altogether, the hospitals' bad faith bargaining is a slap in the face to both nurses and patients," Rubesch said. "We cannot and will not accept it."
The Metropolitan Healthcare Partnership, which represents several hospital systems across Minnesota during the contract negotiations, says the hospitals have been "committed to good faith bargaining" during the talks.
"We've come prepared with reasonable proposals that improve patient care and wage proposals that keep our nurses among the highest paid in the country," the Metropolitan Healthcare Partnership statement says. "Consider this: our unionized nurses received an 18 percent increase in their last three-year contract, and the nurses' initial wage was another 18 percent over three years during these talks. With this strike authorization vote, it is disappointing to see the union's repeated efforts to disrupt, distract, and delay once again. We remain committed to these talks and to concluding this bargain."
The hospitals participating in contract negotiations include Children's Minnesota, Fairview Health Services, HealthPartners Methodist and Allina in the Twin Cities. In Duluth, Aspirus St. Luke's Hospital and Essential are participating in contract talks.
Nurses leading the charge at M Health Fairview say they're confident the strike vote will pass.
"We've assessed our body of nurses and we all know that we're ready to take this vote. Not to strike, but to get it done," said Helling. "This is the goal here, to solve the equation without abandoning our patients or leaving our jobs. We know we have the vote, we wouldn't take the vote if we couldn't get it done."
Voting ends at 10 p.m. on Monday.
