Allina (Page 2)

By Mercy Hospital MNA Chairs Sara Wahto and LouAnn Uhr; Unity Hospital MNA Chairs Robin Larson and Gail Olson; and United Hospital MNA Chairs Bunny Engeldorf, Emily Sippola, and Brittany Livaccari

We all wring our hands over mandatory low needing. It’s a major problem at hospitals everywhere and can affect the quality of care we can provide our patients. However, nurses in union facilities have the power to address the issue through the grievance process and make a difference.

Here’s how MNA nurses at Allina Mercy, United, and Unity hospitals won a major victory to stop a faulty low needing process at our hospitals:
Incorrect mandatory low need assignments have been a long-standing problem at our hospitals.
… Read more about: MNA nurses at three Allina hospitals win major grievance over mandatory low needing  »

By Mat Keller, RN, JD, MNA Regulatory and Policy Nursing Specialist

What does the Allina strike mean for non-Allina nurses? I’m sure if you’re a nurse in Minnesota, Iowa, or Wisconsin, you’ve asked yourself a similar question. And it’s not unreasonable. What, exactly, does the Allina strike mean for the profession?

Nothing less than our future.

Allina Health is a corporate entity that has managed to build up $1.3 billion in stock market reserves, $160 million in Caribbean bank accounts, and $300 million in cash, according to its most recent federal Form 990 financial disclosures.
… Read more about: Why the Allina strike continues to matter  »

By Mathew Keller, RN JD
Regulatory and Policy Nursing Specialist 

In a famous 1863 lawsuit involving landlord rights, Graves v. Berdan, a New York landlord sued a tenant for failing to pay his rent— for leased space in a building that had burned down. Surprisingly enough, the legal precedent at that time required tenants to continue paying rent even after the space being leased ceased to exist.

Such is the power of landlords. They grant their tenants certain rights and uses of property through the provisions of a lease. However, leases also create obligations for tenants – for example, an obligation to pay rent, an obligation to mow the lawn, an obligation to not destroy the premises; or, in the case of the tenant of Unity Hospital, Allina Health, an obligation to “operate a hospital for the benefit of, and open to, all residents of the community upon equal terms” and to “use the leased premises for a public hospital,” according to the terms of its lease with the North Suburban Hospital District Board.
… Read more about: A Hospital for $1?  »

By Mathew Keller, RN JD
Regulatory and Policy Nursing Specialist 

If a recent demand letter from Piper Jaffray’s attorneys to the Minnesota

Nurses Association is any indication, it’s safe to say that our campaign to agitate, educate, and advocate against the overzealous pursuit of profits in non-profit healthcare, the questionable business dealings between Allina and members of its board, and the relentless march toward the corporatization of healthcare have all been a smashing success. Make no mistake, this is a David versus Goliath fight that’s barely just begun — and one corporate Goliath is already bemoaning the audacity of nurse David to throw stones at it, the venerable Piper Jaffray.
… Read more about: High-Powered Piper Jaffray Attorneys Seek to Quiet the Voice of Nurses: Nurses Refuse to be Silenced  »