MNA Blog (Page 42)

Recent news and updates from the Minnesota Nurses Association.

On:
In: Home, Nurses, Press Releases

For Immediate Release 

Contact:
Barbara Brady
(o) 651-414-2849
(c) 651-202-0845
barbara.brady@mnnurses.org

Contact:  Rick Fuentes
(o) 651-414-2863
(c) 612-741-0662
rick.fuentes@mnnurses.org

(St. Paul) – December 27, 2017 – Once again, nurses are the most honest and ethical profession in the nation, according to an annual Gallup poll.

More than 82 percent of Americans describe nurses’ ethics as ‘very high’ or ‘high,’ according to the survey released Dec. 26.

“Nurses are very honored to see the public appreciates the care we provide to patients,” said MNA President Mary C.
… Read more about: Nurses are most ethical and honest profession for 16th year in a row  »

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In: Activism, Guns, Home, Member Blog

By Kathleen Malecki

MNA Member

 

During the 2016 MNA Convention, a resolution regarding gun violence prevention was updated and passed by the House of Delegates. In response to that resolution, GAC members joined Protect Minnesota to lobby at the legislature to defeat four really terrible bills and we were successful. This fall Protect Minnesota together with the School of Public Health at the U of M, Minnesota Public Health Association and the Nobel Peace Prize Forum put on a conference on gun violence. The Board voted to help sponsor the conference and three GAC members attended.

I am at a loss to summarize all the useful information absorbed at this two-day conference.
… Read more about: Public Health Conference on Gun Violence Protection-pt 3  »

On:
In: Activism, Home, Human Trafficking, Minnesota Nurses Association, Nurses

Unique Education Opportunity: Thursday, January 25, 2018

By Megan Gavin

MNA Education Specialist

 

In our modern world, one wherein we access information in seconds and tech entrepreneurs plan tourism to Mars, we still face one of our oldest and ugliest problems: human bondage. Today we refer to this phenomenon as human trafficking, a human rights abuse that involves the exploitation of a person for labor or sex.

In a 2002 Congressional report, the authors identified the reasons human trafficking persists as “criminal businesses that feed on poverty, despair, war, crisis and ignorance.” Regrettably, we provide a seemingly limitless supply of fuel for such enterprises.
… Read more about: Human Trafficking: The Nursing Implications of Trauma and Survival  »

On:
In: Home, Press Releases

10-day Notice Officially Filed with Mayo

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) – December 8, 2017 – The Minnesota Nurses Association has officially filed a 10-day notice of intent to picket the Mayo Clinic Health Systems-Albert Lea campus alongside other healthcare workers and members of Service Employees International Union Healthcare Minnesota (SEIU) and their Unfair Labor Practice strike.  Nurses will take to the areas around the Albert Lea hospital on Tuesday, December 19 at 6 a.m.
… Read more about: MNA Nurses File to Picket with Albert Lea Mayo Workers   »

On:
In: Guns, Home, Nurses

by Mary Kirsling

GAC Commissioner

 

During the 2016 MNA Convention, a resolution regarding gun violence prevention was updated and passed by the House of Delegates. In response to that resolution, GAC members joined Protect Minnesota to lobby at the legislature to defeat four really terrible bills and we were successful. This fall Protect Minnesota together with the School of Public Health at the U of M, Minnesota Public Health Association and the Nobel Peace Prize Forum put on a conference on gun violence. The Board voted to help sponsor the conference and three of us GAC members attended.
… Read more about: From the Gun Violence Prevention Conference-part 2  »

On:
In: Erin Murphy, Governor, Home, Politics

 

By Mary C. Turner

MNA President

 

We nurses can do one thing over the next year that will be a huge win for patients and working families in 2018. We can put Erin Murphy in the Governor’s office. This is absolutely critical us, the direct-care nurses of the Minnesota Nurses Association. Governor Mark Dayton is not seeking re-election, and a dozen candidates are already running. More could jump in too. MNA is ahead of the race though.

In September 2017, a thorough and rigorous screening process took place, which included advice and recommendations from members.
… Read more about: Nurses Stand with Erin because Erin Stands with Patients  »

On:
In: Essentia, Home, Press Releases

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) – November 20, 2017 – The Minnesota Nurses Association will file grievances to win back the jobs and wages of every single registered nurse fired for not participating in Essentia Health’s mandatory flu shot policy.

“Essentia Health showed nurses they did not intend to bargain with us in good faith,” said Steve Strand, co-chair of the bargaining unit in Duluth.  “We tried to sit down with management, but Essentia executives told us they intend to follow through with terminations and mandatory flu shots regardless.”

MNA nurses proposed a voluntary program that rewards employees for participating in the flu shot, rather than a contentious mandatory policy. 
… Read more about: Press Release: MNA Nurses Will Battle Essentia Health Over Flu Shot Firings  »

On:
In: Home, Press Releases

For Immediate Release

Contact:  Rick Fuentes
(o) 651-414-2863
(c) 612-741-0662
rick.fuentes@mnnurses.org

Contact: Barbara Brady
(o) 651-414-2849
(c) 651-202-0845
barbara.brady@mnnurses.org

(St. Paul) – November 10, 2017 – The membership and nurse leaders of the Minnesota Nurses Association condemn sexual harassment or any kind of sexual advance made by anyone, but especially our elected leaders, at the Peoples’ House, the Minnesota State Capitol, or any workplace. Nurses expect a more sophisticated sense of ethical behavior from our trusted representatives and call again for legislators to resign.

“Nurses revere our State Capitol as a dignified monument, just as all Minnesotans do. 
… Read more about: Press Release: MNA Nurses Condemn Sexual Advances at State Capitol  »

On:
In: Activism, Home, Member Blog

By Diane McLaughlin, RN

MNA Member, Retired

 

We live in a “toxic” (i.e. sick) society, according to Dr. Chris Johnson, MD, Emergency Physician with Allina Health Minneapolis.  Johnson spoke this fall Protect Minnesota and the University of Minnesota School of Public Health put on the Public Health Conference on Gun Violence Protection.  The Minnesota Association Board of Directors helped sponsor the event, and three MNA members of the Governmental Affairs Commission attended.

Johnson said we can see the evidence of a toxic society by: gun violence, including domestic and mass shootings; child poverty (1 in 5 children live in poverty); teen pregnancy rates; opioid deaths and drug abuse as 80 percent of the world’s supply comes to the US; and a lack of social mobility.
… Read more about: From the Public Health Conference on Gun Violence Protection  »

On:
In: Activism, Healthcare, Home, Hospitals, Labor Unions, Nurses, Sanford

By Diane Scott, RN

MNA Member

We all know the stories. A mom couldn’t get her son to the right specialist because it was out of the hospital’s “network.” Another mom couldn’t get occupational or physical therapy for her daughter without having to fight like hell to get it. How many times have MNA nurses cried at work and heard the stories of their long fights with their employer because their children could not get the healthcare they deserve? What about the non-contract employees and patients who can’t fight?

On October 24, 2017, MNA decided to fight back. We filed a second step class action grievance on behalf of all Registered Nurses working at Sanford Health of Northern Minnesota Bemidji.
… Read more about: The Union Difference  »