Nurses picket Twin Cities, Duluth hospitals as 15,000 seek new contracts that prioritize patient safety

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Shannon Cunningham
(c) 651-269-1418
Shannon.Cunningham@mnnurses.org

(St. Paul) – June 4, 2025 – Thousands of nurses with the Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) held an informational picket today at 11 Twin Cities hospitals and two Duluth hospitals to highlight issues at the core of their ongoing contract fight with hospital executives. Nurses across the state are in the midst of a staffing crisis and continue to cite staffing as their number one issue in bargaining. Having enough nurses per patient not only benefits patients, but it also reduces injury and violence on the job, keeps experienced nurses at the bedside, and saves healthcare systems desperately needed funds. Nurses in the Twin Cities have been bargaining with hospital executives for new contracts since March and nurses in the Twin Ports have been bargaining since April. Nurses were also joined by community allies including elected officials, labor unions and community organizations.

While nurses continue to meet with hospital administration as frequently as in past negotiations, progress has stalled due to a lack of movement from hospitals on contract language that centers around safe patient care.

“Almost every proposal we put across the table is being met with a statement of ‘We are not interested in discussing this’”, said Joseph Steiger a Negotiating Team RN at North Memorial Hospital in Robbinsdale. “It’s clear that hospital executives aren’t prioritizing real solutions to improve safety. Instead, they continue to focus on retaining control and profit, while still boosting executive bonuses. That tells us exactly where their priorities lie.”

Right now, hospitals are maintaining staffing ratios, also known as the number of patients per nurse, at the same level as during the early days of COVID-19 —with more patients being cared for by fewer nurses. Nurses have seen a direct impact on patient care from these unsustainable levels of pandemic-era staffing, with patients experiencing longer wait times, missed medications, delayed answers to call lights, and escalating adverse events.

This impact is evidenced by the most recent Minnesota Department of Health’s Adverse Event Report showing the highest increase in events like pressure ulcers and falls, in recent history. These adverse patient outcomes are proven to be heavily influenced by nurse staffing levels.

“Unsafe staffing levels are hurting our patients,” Megan Finnegan, RN at Aspirus-St. Luke’s in Duluth, said, “Nurses know it. Patients know it. And hospital executives know it.  But those same executives continue to prioritize profits over safe patient care.”

In a 2025 survey of patients across Minnesota by the Minnesota Nurses Association, it revealed that over 50% of respondents believe nurse staffing levels have worsened in the past five years, and over 44% say that the quality of care in Minnesota hospitals has gotten worse.

“No nurse should have to choose between their dignity and their patient’s,” said Rachel Anderson, RN. “But we do. We’ll pee our own pants before we let a patient sit in theirs. Meanwhile, hospital executives are fine letting patients lie in waste as long as the spreadsheets look clean. It’s disgusting. It’s deliberate. And it has to stop.”

Minnesota hospital executives have consistently dismissed nurses’ calls for safer staffing levels, even as some nonprofit hospitals report increasing system wide revenues. Nurses are advocating for the bare minimum to ensure patient safety.

“Nurses do this work because we care about our patients. We’re not asking hospitals to break the bank. Fairview brought in over $7 billion in revenue last year, with overall profits of over $186 million. Allina had $6 billion in revenue with almost $166 million in profits,” said Brittany Livaccari, RN and Bargaining Unit Chair at United Hospital. “These profits come from staffing cuts and are risking the safety and care of our community. Enough is enough. We are standing up and advocating for the care our patients deserve!”

Today’s informational picket was not a work stoppage, no nurses walked off the job to participate, and hospital operations continued as normal. The contract for Twin Cities nurses expired on May 31, 2025, and contracts at St. Luke’s and Essentia in Duluth will expire on June 30, 2025. As negotiations continue, nurses will continue to push  if hospital executives continue to ignore calls for safe staffing. The message is clear: nurses are united, and this fight is far from over.