Update from Eir Borgensen, RN, Member of HealthEast Bargaining Team:
Fellow nurses,
Today was the last scheduled bargaining session. We started out the day sharing factual stories from the last week of unsafe staffing at HealthEast. The employer sat in silence as we presented these stories from our fellow RNs.
We decided to make some moves to help direct management towards settlement. We modified our staffing proposal to help simplify for management how they can help improve safe staffing. We dropped three of our proposals unconditionally and modified our health insurance proposal down from 100% employer paid to 95% employer paid. We also modified our wage proposal down to 3.75% a year.
The employer made no significant moves and still refuses to address staffing. HealthEast said that their proposals on increasing our cap on low need days and their proposal to float nurses from one campus to another address our concerns for safe staffing. Members of our teams were appalled they would suggest such a ridiculous idea. One member of our team said: “I don’t think you even believe in your own proposal.”
At the end of the day HealthEast still has nothing but takeaways on the table. They have offered nothing that improves our contract or moves our profession forward. Their proposals are as follows:
· Not willing to address staffing
· Increase Low Need Days Cap
· Eliminate Recognition Bonus
· Eliminate MNA 1 and MNA 2 Health Plans
· Eliminate language that considers Holidays, Sick and Vacation as hours worked
· Establish 280 hour cap on vacation bank
Eliminate 0.4 eligibility for benefits
· Wages: 0%, 1%, 2%
· Slash Pension by over 30%
Please come to the HealthEast all Nurses meeting at the MNA office this Friday, May 14th 8:00 A.M, 1:00 P.M. and 4:15 P.M. The MNA office is located at 345 Randolph Ave in St. Paul. We will have all updates and answer any and all questions.
At this point in time we cannot in good faith recommend nurses to accept this offer. We encourage every Healtheast nurse to show up on Wednesday, May 19, at the River Centre to reject this offer. Now is our time to stand united and move our profession forward. The nurses united will never be defeated!!!