Children's Bargaining Update (May 13) (Page 134)

From the MNA Children’s Bargaining Team:

Today thirty-five years of negotiations history came down to twelve minutes with the employer.  Today many of our Nurses came to tell their stories and show their support for our Care managers and our staffing proposal.  The employer finally arrived at 11:40 after all the nurses had left (perhaps management was aware of their presence and delayed their arrival to avoid the nurses?)  The employer’s last concessionary (take-back) offer, which is unchanged from last week, is what they want us to vote on.

The employer has been unwilling to engage in any meaningful dialogue about any of the proposals that we have brought to the table.  They have refused to negotiate on our issues of patient safety, patient advocacy, and patient protection.  It is clear they have no intention to bargain with Children’s Nurses.

In a good faith effort to move negotiations forward, we modified our staffing proposal. This staffing proposal should not be controversial for the employer because it reflects the optimal staffing methodology we have today, using our Grasp acuity tool, nursing intensity measures, and the professional judgment of our charge nurses.  Our staffing proposal was drafted in response to the numerous “Concern for Safe Staffing” reports that have been filed by Children’s Nurses.

The end result of two months of bargaining with this employer is that you are now faced with voting on take-backs.  The Employer’s entire focus has been to gut our contracts.  When the employer says they have moved off of some of their proposals, make no mistake – they left nothing but take-backs on the table.  There is nothing in this offer that supports or strengthens nursing practice and our professional duty to advocate for our patients.

We unconditionally dropped some of our proposals and modified others in order to sharpen our focus on patient safety, patient protection and patient advocacy.  The employer indicated a mediator was available.  The assistance of a mediator was not requested by either side.

In order for us to advocate for our patients and preserve and advance our profession, we (your negotiations team) recommend rejection of the employer’s take-back offer and the authorization of a strike.

For more details, come and talk with your Children’s negotiations team at all-nurse meetings:

Minneapolis: Monday May 17th at 4:00 a.m., 7:30 a.m., 11:00 a.m., 1:30 p.m., 3:30 p.m. 6:00 p.m. & 7:30 p.m. in the Education Center.

St. Paul: Monday May 17th at 6:00 a.m. – noon at L100, and Tuesday May 18th at 1:00p.m. – 8:00 p.m. in the John Nasseff Heart Center, in the St. Luke’s room.

Voting will take place at the River Center in St. Paul from 6:00 a.m. – 10:00 p.m. on Wednesday May 19th.

In Solidarity,

Peg McIntosh                                                      Cathy Seckinger

Deb Haugen                                                      Marcy McCracken

Melissa Hansing                                                      Elaina Hane

Nellie Munn                                                      Sydney Pederson

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From the MNA Children’s Bargaining Team:

Today thirty-five years of negotiations history came down to twelve minutes with the employer.  Today many of our Nurses came to tell their stories and show their support for our Care managers and our staffing proposal.  The employer finally arrived at 11:40 after all the nurses had left (perhaps management was aware of their presence and delayed their arrival to avoid the nurses?)  The employer’s last concessionary (take-back) offer, which is unchanged from last week, is what they want us to vote on.

The employer has been unwilling to engage in any meaningful dialogue about any of the proposals that we have brought to the table. 
… Read more about: Children’s Bargaining Update (May 13)  »

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Today was the last scheduled negotiation.

We presented a revised staffing proposal, easier for management to understand. The hospital rejected the proposal as costing too much.

We proposed a modified wage package.  The hospital rejected this proposal.

After the hospital’s caucus, they explained their staffing process and felt that it was sufficient.

After lunch, the Hospital gave MNA their final proposal. When asked if this was their final proposal, the hospital stated “This is our final offer today”.

We asked further, “Is this the proposal you want us to present to the nurse group to vote on 5/19/10?
… Read more about: Fairview Bargaining Update May 13  »

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Update from Eir Borgensen, RN, Member of HealthEast Bargaining Team:

Fellow nurses,

Today was the last scheduled bargaining session. We started out the day sharing factual stories from the last week of unsafe staffing at HealthEast. The employer sat in silence as we presented these stories from our fellow RNs.

We decided to make some moves to help direct management towards settlement. We modified our staffing proposal to help simplify for management how they can help improve safe staffing.  We dropped three of our proposals unconditionally and modified our health insurance proposal down from 100% employer paid to 95% employer paid.
… Read more about: HealthEast Bargaining Update  »

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From Lori Nelson, RN, and Jim Danielson, RN, members of MNA’s Allina Bargaining Team

Bargaining Concludes

Today, our morning was spent entirely on Letters of Understanding.  There was some meaningful discussion where RNs on our team appealed to management to continue to value nurses voices and to continue to work collaboratively on staffing issues with nurses.  Sadly, we did not discuss the substantial differences that still exist between management’s proposals of concessions and our proposals that would build on the years of hard work in bargaining and advance our profession.  Management again spent hours in caucus without moving the process forward.
… Read more about: Allina Bargaining Update (May 12)  »

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We started Nurses’ Week on May 6 in a tremendous fashion.  Thousand of nurses came out to an historic informational picket to send a clear message to management that RNs are willing to do what it takes to stand up for patients.

Join us for a second day of informational picketing today (May 12th) between 1:30-5 at Fairview Southdale or United/St. Paul Children’s.

On May 11, we came ready to negotiate.  We started off the day by dropping our proposals on union leave, promotions and transfers, and expedited arbitration.  We also emphasized our need to negotiate on staffing.  Management asked us questions about our staffing proposal – the exact same questions that they had asked a couple of weeks ago.  
… Read more about: North Memorial Bargaining Update (May 11)  »