FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Sam Fettig
(o) 651-414-2863
(c) 612-741-0662
sam.fettig@mnnurses.org
Lauren Nielsen
(o) 651-414-2862
(c) 651-376-9709
lauren.nielsen@mnnurses.org
Nurses are seeking fair contracts which will prioritize patient care at the bedside, not the bottom line of CEOs with million-dollar salaries and their corporate healthcare policies Nurses launch new advertising campaign calling on hospital CEOs to put patient care before profits
(St. Paul) – June 1, 2022 – Thousands of nurses with the Minnesota Nurses Association held an informational picket at eleven Twin Cities hospitals today, as 15,000 nurses in the Twin Cities and Twin Ports seek new contracts which will put patients and workers before profits in Minnesota hospitals. Nurses have been bargaining with hospital executives for new contracts since March, and current contracts for nurses in the Twin Cities expired yesterday, May 31, 2022. “Our healthcare system is in critical condition. Hospital executives with million-dollar salaries have created a staffing and retention crisis which is pushing nurses away from the bedside,” said Mary C. Turner, RN, President of the Minnesota Nurses Association. “The future of our healthcare system depends on the choices we make now. Nurses are ready to fight and win for our patients and our practice. I hope the public will stand with us in our fight to put patients before profits in our hospitals.”
MNA nurses on the picket line today at Allina’s Abbott Northwestern Hospital.
Right now, nurses are overworked, hospitals are understaffed, and patients are overcharged by hospital CEOs making millions. As they negotiate new contracts, nurses are seeking solutions to the crisis in our hospitals which will put patients before profits. Along with fair compensation for sacrifices made during the pandemic and for the rising cost of living, nurses aim to solve the crisis of understaffing and retention; to better prepare for the next pandemic; and to prioritize diversity and inclusion within Minnesota healthcare systems. MNA nurses also launched a new advertising campaign this week which urges hospital CEOs with million-dollar salaries to put patients before profits in Minnesota hospitals. The new advertisements, which can be viewed at this link, encourage Minnesotans to visit MNPatientsBeforeProfits.com where they can learn more about high executive compensation at Minnesota hospitals and can share their stories about the impact of short-staffing in our hospitals.
New video advertising campaign calls on CEOs to put patients before profits.
The new advertising campaign will run on digital video streaming platforms, social media, and other online platforms. Recent campaigns from MNA of similar scale made nearly 10 million impressions with Minnesota viewers, including over 1 million playthroughs of the video advertisements. The campaign is running now and will continue to run in the weeks ahead as nurses fight for fair contracts which put patients before profits. The crisis of understaffing and retention in Minnesota hospitals has been going on for years, as CEOs cut nurses and cut expenses even while costs increased for Minnesota patients. All the while, hospital CEOs have continued to make millions in executive compensation. Hospital CEOs with million-dollar salaries can afford to fix the crisis they created, to put patients and workers before profits in our hospitals. Today’s informational picket was not a work stoppage; no nurses walked off the job to participate in the picket, and hospital operations were not affected by the action. Along with nurses in the Twin Cities, nurses in the Twin Ports are also negotiating new contracts; their current contracts will expire on June 30, 2022.
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