Nurses Will be Off ‘Strike Status’ by Sunday Morning
For Immediate Release
Contact: Rick Fuentes
(o) 651-414-2863
(c) 612-741-0662
rick.fuentes@mnnurses.org
Barbara Brady
(o) 651-414-2849
(c) 651-202-0845
barbara.brady@mnnurses.org
(St. Paul) – October 13, 2016 – A majority of the striking nurses represented by the Minnesota Nurses Association have voted in favor of the tentative agreement with Allina Health reached on October 11.
Nurses from Abbott Northwestern, Mercy, Phillips Eye Institute, United, and Unity hospitals voted to ratify the contract today.
“This contract represents compromise and strength by the nurses,” said MNA Executive Director Rose Roach. “While it’s nowhere near what nurses deserve, they can hold their heads high. They can rest easy knowing they won a “no diminishment” clause, so even though they are moving to the corporate health insurance plans, they have assurance that the value of their benefits won’t be reduced in any future cost-cutting scheme.”
Nurses will pull the strike notice and return to their jobs under terms of the return-to-work agreement reached on Tuesday morning.
“The nurses sacrificed their livelihoods and their families’ security to win improvements to patient care through a staffing procedure that will examine and review the impact of charge nurses having patient assignments,” said MNA President and North Memorial Medical Center Registered Nurse Mary Turner. “The issue of safe staffing is far greater than one job classification, which is why nurses focused from day one on negotiating staffing ratios. Nurses left their jobs and health benefits so they could win workplace safety guarantees, such as better training and a round-the-clock security guard in the emergency department – for themselves and their patients.”
“Nurses have spoken,” said Abbott Northwestern Hospital Registered Nurse and Negotiating Team Member Angela Becchetti. “We are now looking forward to getting back to our patients. I hope Allina realizes this should have never happened. If Allina’s negotiating team had listened to nurses last winter and worked with us on staffing and workplace safety, and made a case on changing insurance, nurses would have helped them find a solution that didn’t require spending millions of dollars on replacement nurses.”
“To Allina we say: as a member-run union, the nurses make the decisions,” said Roach. “Rest assured, this isn’t the last time you will hear nurses speak out. The wounds inflicted on the nurses since February will not heal overnight. Nurses have continually felt disrespected and devalued. Nurses are determined to keep speaking up for their patients and their profession as they return to the bedside. I hope Allina will listen and work to re-establish trust with the nurses and ensure maximum patient safety and care.”
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What a farce. Beware all MNA facilities do not trust this union. I was an MNA striking nurse and I know there will be scores of nurses that will be tendering their resignations from MNA. All they do is collect dues and sell you out when the chips are in play,
Just figuring that out now. Strike was not worth it. Should have returned to work to show the union they were not speaking for you if that’s how you feel. Instead nurses lost weeks & weeks of income and more importantly the respect from fellow employees. Welcome to the Allina core plans. You will soon learn they are great plans. All of the other items were addressed so enjoy your depleted back accounts. You deserve it.
Your missing the point, if MNA did its job and should some perserverence and stop giving excuses as to why they cannot win They will never find a more determine group of nurses . The reason the vote passed was not due to economic duress as much as total loss of confidence in the union. As for the health plans I will be leaving before they kick in since I can get similar plans closer to home. My daughter needs them for her chronic condition but we will find other options. I will be resigning from MNA
I was never for MNA or the nurses. Spoiled & selfish. Had to misinform the public to try to gain support.
Your ignorant and I have neither the time nor desire to educate you
It’s too bad you feel this way, the MNA is member driven, perhaps if you had been more active your voice would have been heard. No one wants to strike, but caving to big cooperations consession bargining is not going to take us anywhere but down.
I did not cave I am not a nurse. MNA caved they will have half the support in 2019. There will be resignations. I know of one unit that my wife works at there are at least 8 that are resigning from the union. This was such a huge debacle MNA should refund all union dues for the past year. it’s ironic the media is missing the story but a significant percentage of the nurses are fed up with MNA. They had terrific solidarity and they squaubdered it. If the union is to recover then the leadership needs to resign.
It is a sad day to wake up and realized that you’ve been sold out
We want to thank you for giving up your paycheck by going on strike.
our bank accounts increase greatly
Thank you
🙂 😉 😉
It is a sad day to wake up and realized that you’ve been sold out
We want to thank you for giving up your paycheck by going on strike our bank accounts increase greatly
Thank you
😉 😉 😉 😉
ah
seen you again in 2019
😉
Has everyone seen the HUGE headline where Abbott Northwest has been found in violation of CFR 483.23 (Nursing Service) which covers such items like unlicensed nurses, shortage etc. Gee wonder why this was only released in today Star Tribune in the Public Notice Section.
Now the Ole Gov and A-lie-ing-eye and MNA had no problem gathering front page and news headlines touting how hard they worked to save the day. HMMM wonder why this lil wonder of the world which TRULY EFFECT PATIENT CARE gets buried in the number 2 font section.
Leaders face fear in the heat of confrontation, cowards run and hide behind their laptops. Some run towards the fire, i.e. nurse and some run home, i.e. Unions and corporations. How disrespectful to oneself to be a part of an organization in which nurses look up to you for support, guidance , and leadership. Take a hard long look in the mirror and ask yourself – am I a leader, well if I work for the union then I am by default because people believe in what I stand for. NOW ask your self did I just lead them all of that cliff, rather did I push them off.
Well said, on the post about the CFR 483.23. I do question how quickly the MNA folded. My heart goes out to all the nurses on strike fighting for their patients safety and their well deserved benefits. They did the right thing, to cave immediately and not strike, would be saying that what they have built over the years/decades mean nothing.
SHAME on you who can be so cruel, heartless and COWARD to post on here that you appreciate the strike so you can build your bank account!! I am positive you would have never gone down to the strike line and said that to anyone to their faces, you are brave only when you can type it in a anonymous post! Enjoy your bank account, but there is no need to be cruel!
Remind us all again when Allina FIRST offered your valued workplace safety measures that you fought so hard for over these last 6 weeks. It was certainly in the voted-on contract in August. Didn’t you even have that in June, before the first strike? Judging by this press release, It seems like that was the union leaderships sole focus in these negotiations. You had it before you sacrificed the salary and insurance of your membership, even for a day. So what was all of this for then? In the end, it was a political ploy, orchestrated with the national union, to inflict economic pain on the employer of these 5,000 nurses. You had to have your governor come to the rescue as you worked to get more blood from the turnip. And how did that work out? You gave your union essentially the same contract they had in August, before they gave up 15% of their salary for the year. Congrats
To bad but not sutprised
Don’t label me cruel for laughing at your unwise decision to follow a so called nursing union leader that had absolutely nothing to loss
Add up your lost and ask for a refund from your nursing union
See you in a few years my 2019 vacation is booked and payed for
Yes call me a COWARD but you can’t call me BROKE
LMAO all the way to the BANK
LOL
I have been a member of MNA, except for 5 years staying home with babies, for 45 years. I was a steward for almost all of that time, a co-chair, and a member of negotiating committees for enough times I lost track.
I love my union because it gave me a voice in my everyday practice and allowed me to advocate for nurses who were treated unfairly, in some instances, keeping their job, in others recouping money or benefits that were rightfully theirs.
Over the years nurses negotiated not only excellent wage packages and benefits such as pensions, insurance coverage, and paid time off, maternity and sick leave. In 1971 when I started as a nurse, meter maids and garbage collectors were making more money than RNs.
We continue to have jobs that pay well and contract protections.
As for strikes, there is never a guarantee that you will get what you are striking for. It is sad that nurses have to strike to receive health care from a health care organization, but that is the corporate world we live in.
My heart has gone out to all who truly sacrificed in a big way during this strike. But please do not blame the union for this. You, the negotiating teams and staff fought valiantly. The public was with you and still is.
My hope is that this will make you stronger in your resolve. The next step is Single Payer Health Care. And all of us need to pull together to make that happen. Get involved. You are the union.
We don’t neeed any more MNA approved politicians Give me a break. MNAs guy was also their guy. The world has changed. I almost always vote GOP. I think the bitterness is not that we lost is because we quit. Nurses reallly had 0 faith in MNA to see this thru. They were always making excuses,saying one thing in public and telll the rank and file far more defeatist language in private. I really believe that unions are dying, they seem to have lost their nobility.
CS Lewis: “I was an MNA striking nurse”, “As for the health plans I will be leaving”, “I will be resigning from MNA”, and then “I did not cave I am not a nurse”. OK, who are you exactly then? Just curious if we should take your comments seriously then…
I am two people, but one of us is a nurse the other is mu boyfriend who works at a non MNA hospital
Mary Kirsling
You didn’t strike to receive health care from a health care organization. You were being offered a A+ plan to replace an unsustainable plans (period). A great plan MNA agreed to accept for other union nurses. A plan 30,000 other employees have. Now you will learn for yourself how good these plans are & see first hand why the rest of the organization is rolling their eyes in disgust & talking about how ridiculous this was. I have had this plan for years. Allina hasn’t changed it from year to year so that wasn’t worth holding out either. We are laughing at you.
My heart does NOT go out to all who truly sacrificed in a big way during this strike. I think you all deserve the loss of income because most of you did not do your homework & research before voting. I get that you are trying to convince yourselves that it was worth it & justify the loss by saying it was for staffing & security. But the truth is it wasn’t worth it – all staffing & security issues were resolved before you voted to go out on strike in the first place. The union took you down a rabbit hole for nothing. Oh wait. MNA is the people so you took yourselves down a rabbit hole.
The public is not with especially when they learn the facts.
The statement about Single Payer Health Care is laughable considering how hard you fought to avoid the A+ plan.
I’m grateful for the traveling nurses for providing such wonderful care while you walked away from your patients. Completely selfish decision. Was not for any other reason.
Sad but not surprised, you picketed the traveling nurses at their hotel. You spent time being cruel to them. Trying to get them to go home. I would think you would want these nurses to take good care of the patients you left behind. Our community deserves great care & you walked away from your job for selfish reasons. Now you want everyone to pat you on the back and tell you how wonderful you are and how much you were missed. Many physicians preferred the traveling nurses for their skill & work ethic.
Enjoy your money traveling nurses. You deserve it. Thank you for your hard work and for taking great care of our patients.