MNA Nurses File to Picket with Albert Lea Mayo Workers  (Page 41)

10-day Notice Officially Filed with Mayo

For Immediate Release

 

Contact:  Rick Fuentes
(o) 651-414-2863
(c) 612-741-0662
rick.fuentes@mnnurses.org

Barbara Brady
(o) 651-414-2849
(c) 651-202-0845
barbara.brady@mnnurses.org

(St. Paul) – December 8, 2017 – The Minnesota Nurses Association has officially filed a 10-day notice of intent to picket the Mayo Clinic Health Systems-Albert Lea campus alongside other healthcare workers and members of Service Employees International Union Healthcare Minnesota (SEIU) and their Unfair Labor Practice strike.  Nurses will take to the areas around the Albert Lea hospital on Tuesday, December 19 at 6 a.m.

“We stand with our SEIU brothers and sisters as they work toward a successful resolution to this long and drawn-out battle for a ratified contract,” said MNA President Mary C. Turner.

SEIU workers filed for their intent to hold a one-day strike over Mayo’s refusal to give nursing assistants, housekeepers, and other building staff a fair contract that does not allow Mayo to change terms at will.

“Mayo isn’t a name or a building,” Turner said.  “Mayo is the hard work of all these workers who deliver the quality patient care Minnesotans expect and deserve.  Now give them what they deserve, which is a fair contract that respects their jobs and their families.”

Mayo has intimated that striking workers could be replaced with temporary workers for as long as a week if they go on strike, but nurses will continue to picket until all SEIU workers are permitted to return to work.

“Shame on Mayo for even suggesting a holiday without pay for these workers,” Turner said.  “They’re exercising their rights as workers to hold a peaceful strike to win a fair contract.”

###

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In: Home, Press Releases

10-day Notice Officially Filed with Mayo

For Immediate Release

 

Contact:  Rick Fuentes
(o) 651-414-2863
(c) 612-741-0662
rick.fuentes@mnnurses.org

Barbara Brady
(o) 651-414-2849
(c) 651-202-0845
barbara.brady@mnnurses.org

(St. Paul) – December 8, 2017 – The Minnesota Nurses Association has officially filed a 10-day notice of intent to picket the Mayo Clinic Health Systems-Albert Lea campus alongside other healthcare workers and members of Service Employees International Union Healthcare Minnesota (SEIU) and their Unfair Labor Practice strike.  Nurses will take to the areas around the Albert Lea hospital on Tuesday, December 19 at 6 a.m.
… Read more about: MNA Nurses File to Picket with Albert Lea Mayo Workers   »

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In: Guns, Home, Nurses

by Mary Kirsling

GAC Commissioner

 

During the 2016 MNA Convention, a resolution regarding gun violence prevention was updated and passed by the House of Delegates. In response to that resolution, GAC members joined Protect Minnesota to lobby at the legislature to defeat four really terrible bills and we were successful. This fall Protect Minnesota together with the School of Public Health at the U of M, Minnesota Public Health Association and the Nobel Peace Prize Forum put on a conference on gun violence. The Board voted to help sponsor the conference and three of us GAC members attended.
… Read more about: From the Gun Violence Prevention Conference-part 2  »

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In: Erin Murphy, Governor, Home, Politics

 

By Mary C. Turner

MNA President

 

We nurses can do one thing over the next year that will be a huge win for patients and working families in 2018. We can put Erin Murphy in the Governor’s office. This is absolutely critical us, the direct-care nurses of the Minnesota Nurses Association. Governor Mark Dayton is not seeking re-election, and a dozen candidates are already running. More could jump in too. MNA is ahead of the race though.

In September 2017, a thorough and rigorous screening process took place, which included advice and recommendations from members.
… Read more about: Nurses Stand with Erin because Erin Stands with Patients  »

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In: Essentia, Home, Press Releases

Contact:  Rick Fuentes
(o) 651-414-2863
(c) 612-741-0662
rick.fuentes@mnnurses.org

Barbara Brady
(o) 651-414-2849
(c) 651-202-0845
barbara.brady@mnnurses.org

 

(St. Paul) – November 20, 2017 – The Minnesota Nurses Association will file grievances to win back the jobs and wages of every single registered nurse fired for not participating in Essentia Health’s mandatory flu shot policy.

“Essentia Health showed nurses they did not intend to bargain with us in good faith,” said Steve Strand, co-chair of the bargaining unit in Duluth.  “We tried to sit down with management, but Essentia executives told us they intend to follow through with terminations and mandatory flu shots regardless.”

MNA nurses proposed a voluntary program that rewards employees for participating in the flu shot, rather than a contentious mandatory policy. 
… Read more about: Press Release: MNA Nurses Will Battle Essentia Health Over Flu Shot Firings  »

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In: Home, Press Releases

For Immediate Release

Contact:  Rick Fuentes
(o) 651-414-2863
(c) 612-741-0662
rick.fuentes@mnnurses.org

Contact: Barbara Brady
(o) 651-414-2849
(c) 651-202-0845
barbara.brady@mnnurses.org

(St. Paul) – November 10, 2017 – The membership and nurse leaders of the Minnesota Nurses Association condemn sexual harassment or any kind of sexual advance made by anyone, but especially our elected leaders, at the Peoples’ House, the Minnesota State Capitol, or any workplace. Nurses expect a more sophisticated sense of ethical behavior from our trusted representatives and call again for legislators to resign.

“Nurses revere our State Capitol as a dignified monument, just as all Minnesotans do. 
… Read more about: Press Release: MNA Nurses Condemn Sexual Advances at State Capitol  »

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In: Activism, Home, Member Blog

By Diane McLaughlin, RN

MNA Member, Retired

 

We live in a “toxic” (i.e. sick) society, according to Dr. Chris Johnson, MD, Emergency Physician with Allina Health Minneapolis.  Johnson spoke this fall Protect Minnesota and the University of Minnesota School of Public Health put on the Public Health Conference on Gun Violence Protection.  The Minnesota Association Board of Directors helped sponsor the event, and three MNA members of the Governmental Affairs Commission attended.

Johnson said we can see the evidence of a toxic society by: gun violence, including domestic and mass shootings; child poverty (1 in 5 children live in poverty); teen pregnancy rates; opioid deaths and drug abuse as 80 percent of the world’s supply comes to the US; and a lack of social mobility.
… Read more about: From the Public Health Conference on Gun Violence Protection  »

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In: Activism, Healthcare, Home, Hospitals, Labor Unions, Nurses, Sanford

By Diane Scott, RN

MNA Member

We all know the stories. A mom couldn’t get her son to the right specialist because it was out of the hospital’s “network.” Another mom couldn’t get occupational or physical therapy for her daughter without having to fight like hell to get it. How many times have MNA nurses cried at work and heard the stories of their long fights with their employer because their children could not get the healthcare they deserve? What about the non-contract employees and patients who can’t fight?

On October 24, 2017, MNA decided to fight back. We filed a second step class action grievance on behalf of all Registered Nurses working at Sanford Health of Northern Minnesota Bemidji.
… Read more about: The Union Difference  »

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In: Elections, Home

 

By Eileen Gavin

MNA Political Organizer

In a few days, residents of St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Duluth will choose their next mayor and city council members, respectively. Polls will be open 7 a.m.– 8p.m. Tuesday, Nov 7. Elections are critically important for nurses, patients, and working families. MNA members need to come out and ensure that candidates who share nurses’ values are elected.

MNA has endorsed Dai Thao for St. Paul mayor. “He shares nurses’ progressive values and has committed to actively supporting nurses on our top issues including safe staffing in hospitals, single-payer healthcare, collective bargaining rights for all workers, and Earned Sick and Safe Time,” said President Mary C.
… Read more about: Come Out to Vote November 7  »

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In: Action, Healthcare, Home, Hospitals, Minnesota Nurses Association

By Tara Fugate

MNA Strategic Researcher

A common misconception about nonprofit hospital finance is that, unlike publicly traded corporations, they are not responsible to shareholders or investors. In fact, many hospital expansion and construction projects are funded by investors through the use of municipal bonds. Municipal bonds are not unlike loans from the public. Hospitals work through municipal entities such as cities and counties to issue bonds for public purchase.

A bond is a type of debt investment. This means that an investor or bondholder loans money to an entity (typically corporate or governmental) for a defined period of time at a variable or fixed interest rate.
… Read more about: Municipal Bonds and Nonprofit Hospitals  »

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In: Action, Activism, Home, Nurses, RNRN

By Charlotte “Kava” Zabawa, RN

MNA Member, GAC Commissioner, CARN Member

 

A week ago, when the bombing occurred in Somalia’s capital of Mogadishu, I was at MNA’s convention in Rochester, unaware.  My friend and fellow nurse left the convention early to return to Minneapolis in order to, as she said, “pick up a friend at the airport.”  I was still clueless.

 

It wasn’t until I returned home and read the paper, Tuesday, that I learned what happened and guessed the real reason my dear nurse friend had left the convention.
… Read more about: Offering Help: Nurse to Nurse  »