FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Sam Fettig
(c) 612-741-0662
sam.fettig@mnnurses.org
Lauren Nielsen
(c) 651-376-9709
lauren.nielsen@mnnurses.org
15,000 Twin Cities and Twin Ports nurses will vote November 30 on whether to authorize an unfair labor practice strikeNurses have been back at work for two months since historic three-day strike, but hospital executives continue to commit unfair labor practices and refuse solutions to address care and working conditions at the bargaining table
(St. Paul) – November 17, 2022 – Nurses with the Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) today announced that they will hold a vote on November 30, 2022 to authorize a potential second unfair labor practice strike in their fight to win fair contracts to put patients before profits. The vote comes as 15,000 nurses in the Twin Cities and Twin Ports have been back at work for two months since a historic three-day unfair labor practice strike in September. While nurses have made every effort to negotiate in good faith and win fair contracts at the negotiating table, hospital executives continue to commit unfair labor practices and refuse solutions to solve the crisis of care and working conditions in our hospitals.
WATCH: Nurses Announce Unfair Labor Practice Strike Vote Plans
If approved by a two-thirds majority of voting members, the vote will authorize nurse negotiation leaders to call an unfair labor practice strike following a 10-day notice to hospital employers. This would be the second unfair labor practices strike held by Minnesota nurses in their fight for a fair contract, after 15,000 nurses walked out in a historic three-day strike in September, believed to be the largest private-sector nurses’ strike in United States history.
While nurses continue to bargain in good faith, hospital executives continue to commit regular unfair labor practices, including colluding to keep wages down for nurses, direct dealing with nurse union members, and refusing to provide information necessary for the bargaining process. These unfair labor practices violate labor law and erode trust between nurses and their employers.
Since negotiations began in March, nurses have pressed hospital executives both at the bargaining table and in public over the need to negotiate with nurses to solve the crises of short-staffing, retention and care in our hospitals. Along with their historic three-day strike in September, nurses launched an advertising campaign exposing the effects of corporate healthcare policies in Minnesota hospitals, announced that nurses had voted “No Confidence” in hospital executives, and confronted hospital board members over the failure of our CEOs to solve the problems in our hospitals.
Hospital CEOs continue to take multi-million-dollar salaries while failing to solve the retention crisis pushing nurses out of the profession, negatively impacting care for Minnesota patients. There is no shortage of nurses in Minnesota, but deteriorating care and working conditions are driving more nurses to leave the bedside. While adverse events increase for patients and conditions deteriorate in Minnesota hospitals on the watch of hospital CEOs, more than half of all nurses are considering leaving the bedside in the next year.
Nurses are bargaining for new contracts at the below fifteen hospitals, which would be impacted by a potential unfair labor practice strike. Nurses in the Twin Cities have been working without a contract since theirs expired on May 31, 2022; contracts for nurses in the Twin Ports expired on June 30, 2022.
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