Twin Cities hospitals came out with a press release today bashing Twin Cities nurses and making disingenuous statements and untrue allegations. Below is the official response from one our MNA leaders. We’re not sure all of the statement below will be used in media coverage, but this is our full and official response:
“The Twin Cities hospitals continue to be completely disingenuous with their public message,” said Susan Mason, lead negotiator for the Minnesota Nurses Association. “Their public rhetoric literally does not match up with reality. For example, since we gave our emphatic answer on May 19th with a near unanimous rejection of their contract offers, only one of the six hospital systems has contacted the Minnesota Nurses Association with a request to return to the bargaining table. These hospitals continue to say one thing publicly and another thing to our nurses.”
“As to the charges the hospitals are making publicly, our nurses are asking for a yearly wage increase of 3 to 4 percent,” Mason continued. “I would also like to point out that the hospitals collectively made nearly $700 million in profits last year, yet continue to tell the public a different story – that they can’t afford to improve the quality of patient care through better staffing.”