MNA Blog (Page 127)

Recent news and updates from the Minnesota Nurses Association.

By Nellie Munn, RN

Twelve thousand nurses in the Twin Cities are fending off a well-coordinated attack by corporate health care interests to diminish the power of our union. In a metropolitan area with one of the highest densities of organized nurses in the country, we know that if the employers take down the Minnesota Nurses Association, they can take down anyone.

The nurses authorized a one-day strike last week by more than 90 percent of 9,200 voting. Negotiations with 14 Twin Cities hospitals owned by six corporations started in March, but little actual back and forth has taken place.
… Read more about: The National Perspective from a MNA RN  »

With Twin Cities Hospitals refusing to significantly modify or update the contract proposal that was already rejected May 19th by more than 90% of Twin Cities nurses, it is appearing more and more likely the June 10th strike for patient safety will become a reality.

With that in mind, we need our fellow nurses, friends and family members to join us for strike picket sign making this weekend! We’ll be working in two shifts (8:00 a.m.-2 p.m. and 4:00 p.m.-6:30 p.m.) on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, June 4-6.

We’ll be gathering here at the MNA Office (345 Randolph Avenue, Suite 200, St.
… Read more about: Picket Sign Making (June 4-6): Sign up now!  »

MNA Information Request June 2, 2010

MNA requests that the following information is provide for the purposes of bargaining, and that it is provided not later than 8:00 A.M. on June 4, 2010.

  1. Please provide a unit by unit comparison of current staffing ratios and those as last proposed by MNA.
  2. Please specifically identify the factors and data that were used by the hospitals to calculate the cost of the MNA proposal at 250 million dollars.  Indicate the current costs that are included in the hospital’s calculations
  3. What is the average cost of the following adverse events?
  4. … Read more about: June 2 Bargaining – Information Request filed by MNA  »

Twin Cities Nurses: Your fellow RNs on the MNA bargaining team will bring you a contract worth voting on in good time.  Do not fall for the Employers’ ploy of management making small changes and bringing it back to the table for multiple votes.  We won’t waste your time voting multiple times for a poor contract.

Our MNA bargaining teams  are United and Strong! We are all in the same room negotiating together.  We will get a ratifiable contract.  We are strong and we are together – metro-wide.

MNA has made themselves available to negotiate from May 28 through June 9.  
… Read more about: June 2 Bargaining Update  »

Update from: Cyndi Prout, RN, Chair, MNA’s Saint Luke’s Hospital bargaining team.

We just had our second bargaining session and we greeted management with the largest welcoming committee of nurses they have ever seen.

We felt the energy of our sister and brother nurses from Saint Luke’s and SMDC today! It shows that we really are united. It was great to be there yesterday for SMDC and it felt great that they came out for us! Now is our time in Duluth for Nurses to take a stand for safe staffing and patient care.
… Read more about: St. Luke’s Bargaining Update – Duluth (May 28)  »

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact: John Nemo, Minnesota Nurses Association, 651-414-2863 (office)/651-442-7176 (cell) or john.nemo@mnnurses.org

Twin Cities Nurses to Take Historic Stand for Patient Safety

ST. PAUL (May 28, 2010) – The Minnesota Nurses Association announced today that more than 12,000 Twin Cities nurses will conduct a one-day strike for patient safety beginning at 7:00 a.m. on Thursday, June 10, 2010.

The work stoppage will be the largest nursing-related strike in U.S. history in terms of the number of nurses involved. Previously, the largest strike in history occurred when more than 6,000 Twin Cities nurses walked off the job for 38 days in 1984 before coming to an agreement with area hospitals.
… Read more about: Official Press Release: Nurses Set Strike Date of June 10th  »