June 4 Bargaining Update (Page 98)

Union brothers and sisters, please get ready to strike.

For two long days we, your elected bargaining teams, showed up to bargain a fair and just contract, and we are sorry to report that the employer has refused to bargain in good faith. They said that not one word, comma, letter, or sentence was acceptable in our proposals. They said unless you agree to their concessions there will be no bargaining.

These are employers who collectively made over $750 million in profits last year, where the CEOs pay increases were over 20%, and where new costly construction is prevalent everywhere. Their message to us is clear; if we are not willing to take concessions then they are not going to bargain. Well, we said to them; if you are not willing to agree to safe staffing, and agree to improve safe patient outcomes, then we are willing to fight.

Their proposals are all about money and profits. There is no connection between quality care and what the hospitals want. Not a single one of their proposals is about improving patient care or advancing our profession forward. One thing was definitely clear; by refusing to talk about patient care they have shown that patient safety and safe staffing are not their priorities – but, making money and control are.

For the second bargaining session in a row, the employers have engaged the media before they engaged us. They were talking to the press while we were sitting and patiently waiting to bargain.  We say shame on the hospitals!  They took the human aspect out of the picture and used lawyers and spokespersons to carry their message of greed. They have intentionally continued to misrepresent to the pubic they purport to serve our position surrounding patient care.

Our priorities remain: Safe staffing, patient protection, improved education, safety regulations surrounding infectious disease, recruitment and retention so there are enough nurses to care for our communities, and emergency preparedness. We desire to move our profession forward.

The hospitals priorities continue to be: Slash our pension, freeze our wages, more flexibility to send RNs when and where they want to, eliminate benefit eligibility, and to take away our MNA health plans.

We continue to stand united and we stand up and fight.

The next steps are as follows: We will be making picket signs at the MNA office all weekend long.  There will be a candle light vigil on Wednesday June 9th at 5:45 P.M. at St. Matthew’s Luthern Church in St. Paul at 701 N. Lexington Pkwy, 55104.

If we don’t advocate for our profession and our patients, then who will?

CLICK HERE to watch a Webcast of the press conference from MNA RNs talking about bargaining and next steps.

Below is a roundup of TV News Coverage related to today’s update:

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/12310304]

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In: Bargaining

Union brothers and sisters, please get ready to strike.

For two long days we, your elected bargaining teams, showed up to bargain a fair and just contract, and we are sorry to report that the employer has refused to bargain in good faith. They said that not one word, comma, letter, or sentence was acceptable in our proposals. They said unless you agree to their concessions there will be no bargaining.

These are employers who collectively made over $750 million in profits last year, where the CEOs pay increases were over 20%, and where new costly construction is prevalent everywhere.
… Read more about: June 4 Bargaining Update  »

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In: Duluth Bargaining

Today in our third bargaining session we greeted management with twice as many nurses as last week! Management’s reaction was to not show up on time. We had to bring our welcoming committee of nearly fifty nurses as well as family and community support to them! Our unity is showing and we need to keep it up for safe staffing and the best patient care.

Thoughts from Cindy Prout RN, MNA Chair, Saint Luke’s Hospital:

Management came in late and on the defensive and criticized our characterization of their proposals’ last week when I said they wanted nurses to be more flexible to fix their problems.
… Read more about: Duluth Bargaining Update (June 3)  »

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With Twin Cities Hospitals refusing to significantly modify or update the contract proposal that was already rejected May 19th by more than 90% of Twin Cities nurses, it is appearing more and more likely the June 10th strike for patient safety will become a reality.

With that in mind, we need our fellow nurses, friends and family members to join us for strike picket sign making this weekend! We’ll be working in two shifts (8:00 a.m.-2 p.m. and 4:00 p.m.-6:30 p.m.) on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, June 4-6.

We’ll be gathering here at the MNA Office (345 Randolph Avenue, Suite 200, St.
… Read more about: Picket Sign Making (June 4-6): Sign up now!  »

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MNA Information Request June 2, 2010

MNA requests that the following information is provide for the purposes of bargaining, and that it is provided not later than 8:00 A.M. on June 4, 2010.

  1. Please provide a unit by unit comparison of current staffing ratios and those as last proposed by MNA.
  2. Please specifically identify the factors and data that were used by the hospitals to calculate the cost of the MNA proposal at 250 million dollars.  Indicate the current costs that are included in the hospital’s calculations
  3. What is the average cost of the following adverse events?

    4. … Read more about: June 2 Bargaining – Information Request filed by MNA  »

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Twin Cities Nurses: Your fellow RNs on the MNA bargaining team will bring you a contract worth voting on in good time.  Do not fall for the Employers’ ploy of management making small changes and bringing it back to the table for multiple votes.  We won’t waste your time voting multiple times for a poor contract.

Our MNA bargaining teams  are United and Strong! We are all in the same room negotiating together.  We will get a ratifiable contract.  We are strong and we are together – metro-wide.

MNA has made themselves available to negotiate from May 28 through June 9.  
… Read more about: June 2 Bargaining Update  »

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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  »