Organizing (Page 6)

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Nursing issues are at stake in this election.  With a nurse-friendly legislature we can:

  • Advance MNA’s Safe Staffing bill
  • Stop the Interstate Nurse Licensure Compact from bringing down Minnesota’s nursing standards
  • Protect Workers’ Rights

Many MNA-endorsed candidates are in close races and help from nurses could put them over the top. 
MNA’s 2012 Legislative Scorecard offers insight into voting records on nursing issues of candidates who served in last year’s legislature and are running for re-election.     

Get out your calendar and block out time to:

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Paul and Sheila Wellstone
1944 – 2002″Politics is about what we create by what we do, what we hope for, and what we dare to imagine.”

NOTES ON NURSING

Nurses Show Solidarity in Opposition to Allina Proposed Uniform Policy    MNA members ”Got the Red Out” this morning at an Arbitration meeting to show MNA solidarity against the uniform policy Allina is attempting to force on nurses.

LABOR

Jobless Claims Fall; Give Clearer Sign of Health    The four-week moving average for jobless claims, which smoothes out such volatility, rose 1,500 to a 368,000.
… Read more about: MNA Daily NewsScan, October 25, 2012: Allina action; Jobless claims down  »

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Oct. 25, 2012

MNA members “Got the Red Out” this morning at an Arbitration meeting to show MNA solidarity against the uniform policy Allina is attempting to force on nurses. Allina implemented the uniform policy without bargaining with the union.  This unilateral implementation is a glaring disregard for the obligation and respect to bargaining over mandatory subjects impacting nurses working conditions. Members stood together to greet the employer and the arbitrator to show them the power, support for one another and unity. Nurses from Allina system throughout the state as well as other MNA nurses came today.  Message to Allina:  You take on one MNA member; you take on ALL MNA members.
… Read more about: MNA Members In Solidarity to Oppose Allina Uniform Policy  »

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NOTES ON NURSING

Hayride For Patient Safety in Marshall  MNA Nurses at Marshall Avera Regional Medical Center took to the streets on Oct. 23 – on a haywagon – to campaign for a fair contract that keeps patients safe.   

LABOR NEWS

Today in History:  In 1940, the 40-hour work week went into effect under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.

Equal Pay?  U.S. Still Doesn’t Get it Right    If a young man and woman fresh out of college with the same degree walk into a large firm, typically, the man can get placed in higher-wage jobs than the woman.
… Read more about: MNA Daily NewsScan, October 24, 2012: Marshall action; Honoring Wellstones; Equal pay news is dismal  »

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MNA 107th Annual Convention:  See.  Learn.  Prepare.  Act.

The annual convention of the Minnesota Nurses Association fortified members’ stance on nursing issues and demonstrated their resolve to act collectively on those issues.

“We are MNA,” said President Linda Hamilton, RN, BSN during her opening speech.  “We are 20,000 voices.  We are 20,000 votes.  We are nurses standing together across this country as National Nurses United. We are 185,000 voices. We are 185,000 votes.  Our voices and votes ring loud and true to defend the values we hold dear against the injustice of the corporate machine and corrupted political process.”

200 delegates dug into a packed agenda that mixed organizational business, education, celebration, fun and action during the  one pre-convention and three official days of the event, held from Oct.
… Read more about: MN Nurses 107th Annual Convention Summary  »

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In: Activism, Healthcare, Hospitals, Labor Unions, National Nurses United, Nurses, Nursing, Organizing, Politics, Robin Hood Tax

NOTES ON NURSING

Join nurses across the country at 2:00 p.m. TODAY (Oct. 2) as we  advocate for The Robin Hood Tax at the office of Rep. John Kline (Burnsville)

Home-Based Stroke Therapy Improves Outcomes, Eliminates Wait Times, Saves Money, Study Suggests   Home delivery of stroke rehabilitation improves care, eliminates waiting lists for treatment and saves hundreds of thousands of dollars annually in hospital costs, according to a quality improvement project presented October 1 at the Canadian Stroke Congress.

More Nursing Care Staff are Needed in Order to Curb Bacteria-related Deaths   What I saw in the nursing facilities makes me not want to be a patient there in the future.
… Read more about: MNA Daily NewsScan, October 2, 2012: RN on the 47%- “my patients just need help;” join the Robin Hood action today  »

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NOTES ON NURSING

Nurses, Docs Overestimate Care   The disconnect between the quality of care a panel of experts found in the records and the quality of care the nurses and doctors thought they had delivered doesn’t mean the patients were any worse off.  Instead, the researchers suggest it means the doctors and nurses may need to be more critical of their performances.

HEALTH CARE

Ascension’s Big Hospital Buy Likely to Face Anti-Trust Scrutiny   Ascension Health, the nation’s largest Catholic and nonprofit health system, operates about 80 U.S. hospitals with more than 17,000 patients, and reported nearly $20 billion in assets and about $16 billion in revenue in fiscal year 2011. 
… Read more about: MNA Daily NewsScan, September 6, 2012: Overestimating care; more corporate mergers; orchestra bosses out of tune  »

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HEALTH CARE

Park Nicollet Health Services & HealthPartners to Merge   If approved by federal regulators, the agreement would go into effect January 1st. The new nonprofit would be a health care delivery and finance organization named HealthPartners with 15-hundred physicians.   What’s behind the merger, and what lies ahead?

Read MNA’s Statement 

California Hospitals Fined for Medical Errors   In  the latest round of civil penalties issued for violations or  deficiencies constituting an immediate jeopardy to the health and safety of a  hospital patient, California hospitals were  penalized for making patient care errors that led to five deaths and  necessitated repeat surgery in seven patients.
… Read more about: MNA Daily NewsScan, August 31, 2012: Health Care Merger; Labor Day Activities; Organizing Victories  »

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Statement by Minnesota Nurses Association Executive Director Walter Frederickson, RN on Park Nicollet Health Services/HealthPartners Merger

As corporatization of health care continues its relentless march in Minnesota with the merger of Park Nicollet Health Services and HealthPartners, nurses raise a voice of concern to warn that one size does not fit all.  Each health situation is unique and can require a multitude of resources at any given moment.

Simultaneously, patients deserve a basic standard of care, and enough RN staffing to be able to anticipate crises as they emerge on each shift.   As traditionally bottom-line obsessed corporations grow, so too must our voice continue to grow to ensure patients are always placed above profits.
… Read more about: MNA Statement on Twin Cities Health Care Merger  »

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HEALTH CARE

Patients Balk at Corporate Health Care   When the local, independent hospital becomes part of a larger health system, whether Sanford Health, Essentia Health, Mayo Clinic or another, the hospitals also can become more impersonal, bureaucratic and frustrating.

U.S. Lags in Preventable Deaths    More bad news for the U.S. health care system. According to a new report by the Commonwealth Fund, America is worst among three other industrialized nations when it comes to preventing avoidable deaths through timely, effective medical care. The problem, once again, is the lack of health insurance, the report suggests.
… Read more about: MNA Daily NewsScan, August 30, 2012: State employee contracts rejected by legislative panel; Patients balk at corporate health care;  »