St. Luke's Bargaining Update - Duluth (May 28) (Page 133)

Update from: Cyndi Prout, RN, Chair, MNA’s Saint Luke’s Hospital bargaining team.

We just had our second bargaining session and we greeted management with the largest welcoming committee of nurses they have ever seen.

We felt the energy of our sister and brother nurses from Saint Luke’s and SMDC today! It shows that we really are united. It was great to be there yesterday for SMDC and it felt great that they came out for us! Now is our time in Duluth for Nurses to take a stand for safe staffing and patient care.

Three main things happened today:

  1. We agreed on some non-controversial housekeeping issues because of the unity that we have all been able to show up to this point.
  2. We presented our staffing proposals which included concrete ratios for safe patient care, which research has proven saves lives. More info can be found on MNA’s Duluth bargaining page, which also includes temporary divert and temporary unit closure language if ratios are not met.
  3. The hospitals responded by saying, “We need you to be more flexible to take care of our problems.”  (Ask your committee about what was said in the event of a snowstorm!)

Update from Mary Koski “Meech”, RN, Birthplace Center:

Their response to our staffing proposals shows a lack of urgency and seriousness regarding staffing issues. It is clear that we have to be united to get them to take us seriously!

In order to win a contract that ensures safe staffing, we need your help!

We need you at the Holiday Inn, 3rd floor lobby, on June 3rd at 0830 for the 3rd bargaining session to greet management in even greater numbers.  We started strong and need to get stronger every time!

We need you at SMDC’s next bargaining session,  June 10th on the 3rd floor of the Tech Center at 0830-0900 to greet management for their next bargaining session because we support one another. We are Duluth Nurses! We are united, and we came out in big numbers this morning for our negotiations today!

June 16th is the next all nurse meeting at the Labor Temple, 2002 London Road, below the Reef Bar at four different times – 0800, 1330, 1600 and 2000. Parking is available in back. This meeting is very important – we will have had three negotiation sessions and will have a very good idea which direction bargaining is headed. We have to plan our next steps. It will be exactly 14 days until our current contract expires!

Can we count on you to be there?

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In: Duluth Bargaining, Labor Unions

Update from: Cyndi Prout, RN, Chair, MNA’s Saint Luke’s Hospital bargaining team.

We just had our second bargaining session and we greeted management with the largest welcoming committee of nurses they have ever seen.

We felt the energy of our sister and brother nurses from Saint Luke’s and SMDC today! It shows that we really are united. It was great to be there yesterday for SMDC and it felt great that they came out for us! Now is our time in Duluth for Nurses to take a stand for safe staffing and patient care.
… Read more about: St. Luke’s Bargaining Update – Duluth (May 28)  »

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact: John Nemo, Minnesota Nurses Association, 651-414-2863 (office)/651-442-7176 (cell) or john.nemo@mnnurses.org

Twin Cities Nurses to Take Historic Stand for Patient Safety

ST. PAUL (May 28, 2010) – The Minnesota Nurses Association announced today that more than 12,000 Twin Cities nurses will conduct a one-day strike for patient safety beginning at 7:00 a.m. on Thursday, June 10, 2010.

The work stoppage will be the largest nursing-related strike in U.S. history in terms of the number of nurses involved. Previously, the largest strike in history occurred when more than 6,000 Twin Cities nurses walked off the job for 38 days in 1984 before coming to an agreement with area hospitals.
… Read more about: Official Press Release: Nurses Set Strike Date of June 10th  »

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Update by Steve Strand, RN: Today was our second day of bargaining with SMDC. We greeted management with more nurses than they had ever seen before at bargaining!

To start things off, we were able to agree on some non controversial housekeeping issues. Following that, we presented our staffing proposals, which include:

  • Safe Nurse to Patient Ratios
  • Joint Development of a Staffing Plan between MNA and management that Incorporates Acuity and Nursing Intensity.
  • 10% Buffer Zone in critical care beds, non-critical care inpatient beds, and labor and delivery beds to admit ED and OB patients more efficiently.

    • … Read more about: Duluth Bargaining Update – SMDC (May 27)  »

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Just this week MNA received what we believe is proof that the Twin Cities Hospitals have indeed signed an illegal collusion agreement. What we believe this means is that the six hospital systems, all of whom are competing with each other for business, likely didn’t trust one another enough to let everyone bargain individually and come to a separate agreement with MNA. So we are alleging that they created and signed a multi-employer agreement that binds the employers together in negotiations and any potential settlement with the MNA. And the reason this is significant is two-fold: First is that months ago, before bargaining even began, MNA asked if the Hospitals wanted to do an “all for one” type labor contract and have all six systems bargain together at one table.
… Read more about: Still think Twin Cities Hospitals are telling you the truth?  »