Essentia nurses to picket new St. Mary's Medical Center on Friday amid ongoing staffing concerns (Page 10)

MEDIA ADVISORY

Sam Fettig
(c) 612-741-0662
sam.fettig@mnnurses.org

Lauren Nielsen
(c) 651-376-9709
lauren.nielsen@mnnurses.org

Nurses will gather to make signs at new MNA Duluth office on Tuesday, ahead of Friday picket 

(Duluth) – July 17, 2023 – This Friday, Essentia Health nurses with the Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) will hold an informational picket outside of the new St. Mary’s Medical Center amid ongoing staffing concerns at the health system. On Tuesday, nurses will gather to make picket signs at the new MNA Duluth office in the Labor Temple. Details on both events are included below.

“When hospital executives refuse our patients the safe level of skilled staff they deserve, it drives nurses away from the bedside and puts our profession and our healthcare system in jeopardy,” said Chris Rubesch, RN at Essentia Duluth and MNA First Vice President. “It takes more than a building to care for our patients, our neighbors, and our community. Nurses are ready to do the work, and we hope our hospital executives will finally work with us to put patients before profits in our hospitals.”

The informational picket comes as hospital executives at Essentia Health continue to ignore nurses’ calls for the safe staffing levels needed to ensure quality patient care in the Northland. Last year, MNA nurses at Essentia and throughout Minnesota fought for new contracts to improve staffing to retain nurses and protect patient care. While hospital executives refused the solutions needed, nurses won limited concessions meant to give them more input in the staffing process.

But more than six months after the new contract was ratified, Essentia executives have refused to accept even this limited input from nurses on the disastrous staffing levels that are driving nurses away from the bedside and putting patient care at risk. Now, Essentia executives are doubling down as they prepare to open a new facility, proposing dramatic cuts to the number of nurses scheduled for each shift even as the number of patients increases. Decisions about staffing levels are not being made by managers in our hospitals, but are being dominated by out-of-touch, out-of-state executives with no connections in the local community.

As the crisis of retention and care gets worse in our hospitals, executives continue to push disastrous corporate healthcare policies that put their bottom line ahead of the bedside. Hospital executives at Essentia Health, St. Luke’s and M Health Fairview are pursuing mergers while CEO compensation skyrockets. In 2020, Essentia CEO David Herman took a $1 million raise, and now takes home $2.7 million in compensation each year.

On Tuesday evening, MNA nurses will gather at the new MNA office in the Duluth Labor Temple to prepare signs for the informational picket. Details on this event, and the picket, are included below. Media are invited to attend both events.

Friday’s informational picket is not a work stoppage; nurses will not be walking off the job to participate in the picket, and hospital operations will not be affected by the action.

NURSES MAKE PICKET SIGNS AT NEW DULUTH MNA OFFICE   

• When: Tuesday, July 18, 2023, 5:00 – 8:00 p.m.
• Where: MNA Office, Duluth Labor Temple, Suite 116, 2002 London Road, Duluth, MN 55812
• Who: Essentia MNA nurses
• What: Nurses available to media at new Duluth MNA office as they prepare signs for informational picket

ESSENTIA MNA NURSES HOLD INFORMATIONAL PICKET

• When: Friday, July 21, 2023, 1:00 – 7:00 p.m.
• Where: Outside new St. Mary’s Medical Center and Miller Dwan buildings, 402 E 2nd Street, Duluth, MN 55805
• Who: MNA Essentia nurses
• What: Informational picket amid ongoing staffing concerns
• Why: To call on Essentia CEO Davide Herman to put patients before profits