MNA Daily NewsScan: May 16, 2012 - "Money Hungry" (in more ways than one), NNU Stands Strong in Chicago, SEIU Votes to Strike (Page 106)

What is this? The MNA Daily NewsScan is a round up the day’s biggest nursing, health care and organized labor stories.  As news unfolds in real-time, we update the NewsScan with new links and info, so check back often!

Stories we’re scanning:

Health Care

Labor Updates

  • SEIU Takes Strike Vote: SEIU Healthcare Minnesota members voted overwhelmingly this week to authorize a 2-5 day strike. More than 3,500 workers at eight different Twin Cities hospitals are involved in ongoing contract negotiations.
  • Crow Wing County Decision Expected Soon: Several Labor Unions – including MNA – are waiting on a ruling from a judge regarding an Unfair Labor Practice charge filed against Crow Wing County officials.
  • “They Couldn’t Shut Us Down”: Musician Tom Morello tells Rolling Stone that Friday’s National Nurses United rally in Chicago is back on track because “We [the people] stood up.”

What is this? The MNA Daily NewsScan is a round up the day’s biggest nursing, health care and organized labor stories.  As news unfolds in real-time, we update the NewsScan with new links and info, so check back often!

Stories we’re scanning:

Labor

Crow Wing County RNs Expect Decision Today on Civil Lawsuit Regarding Unfair Labor Practices   The unions reported the lawsuit is not whether the county’s proposal to tie pay to performance is a good idea.  “The county’s idea, like all bargaining proposals, should be negotiated,” the unions stated. “The unions’ lawsuit simply asks the court to find that the county must first negotiate the elimination of the current pay structure and not act on its own.”

Twin Cities Hospital Workers Voting Whether to Strike   The workers hold a variety of jobs, including nursing assistants, ER techs and maintenance and food service personnel.
… Read more about: MNA Daily NewsScan, May 15, 2012 – Crow Wing RNs Await Results of Civil Law Suit; Nursing Careers and an Aging Population  »

 

The Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation and Saint Paul Regional Labor Federation Invite Our Union Sisters and Brothers to Attend Our We Are One Solidarity Event and Labor 2012 Kickoff

During the 2011 – 2012 legislative session, workers were the center of attacks from Minnesota’s Legislative Majority. We narrowly kept the proposed Right to Work constitutional amendment off the ballot. It’s time to celebrate our victory, and talk about what we need to do next so that we’re not fighting Right to Work again in 2013.

Please join us for a BBQ and rally that is being jointly hosted by the Minneapolis and Saint Paul Regional Labor Federations.
… Read more about: Upcoming: “We Are One” Labor Union Event on May 17 – RSVP today!  »

Session Ends

The House adjourned in the wee hours of Thursday morning, and the Senate followed suit on Thursday afternoon. This session, we saw more involvement from MNA nurses on legislative issues than at any other time in recent MNA history. Everyone who reached out to their elected officials, educated their colleagues about the issues, or came to the Capitol should feel proud. Nurses are a respected and influential force at the Capitol because of all of your work.

 

MNA Priorities

Notes on Nursing

National Nurse Licensure is DEAD (for now).  The House adjourned for the session in the wee hours of this morning, WITHOUT taking a final vote on the National Nurse Licensure Compact. That means it’s dead for this year. It will most likely come back next session, so stay tuned, but for now, be proud of all the calls, emails, letters and visits that nurses made to stop this dangerous bill!

Chicago Tries to Revoke Nurses’ Permit to March    What in the world?  The registered nurses of National Nurses United cannot wait to welcome one of the world’s leading defenders of common people to their uncommon May 18th march and rally in Chicago.
… Read more about: MNA Daily NewsScan, May 10, 2012: Natl Nurse Licensure Dead; Nurses Will March in Chicago; HC Execs Make $1M A Year  »

SPEAK UP FOR OUR NURSING STANDARDS

The Minnesota Board of Nursing wants to significantly change the Nurse Practice Act to alter Scope of Practice language.

This is NOT a friendly change.

Their proposals reflect a corporate health care employer’s dream to muddy the lines of responsibility between RNs and LPNs – allowing health care facilities to get more work for less money.  It also pits our two practices in a fabricated fight that will only result in jeopardizing public safety.

For the sake of your license and the future of nursing, attend an upcoming “listening session” hosted by the Minnesota Board of Nursing. 
… Read more about: Update! Speak up to MN Board of Nursing About LPN Scope Expansion  »

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ST. PAUL (May 8, 2012) – The President of the Minnesota Nurses Association issued an official statement of support today for Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson and her ongoing investigation of Accretive Health.

“On behalf of our 20,000 nurses, I want to thank Lori Swanson for ignoring political pressure and corporate influence and continuing to stand up for the patients we care for,” Hamilton said. “What Accretive is doing seems to be the epitome of the ‘profits-before-patients’ type of health care delivery that needs to stop, and we’re grateful Attorney General Swanson is having none of it.”

Earlier today, news reports detailed how Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel made the unusual move of publicly pressuring Attorney General Swanson’s office to “back off” its ongoing investigation of Accretive, which began in April 2012.
… Read more about: MNA Statement of Support for Attorney General Lori Swanson  »