Press Release: Legislators to Allina: Negotiate a Fair Contract with Nurses

25 Comments

1. Well Done!

2. Where are all the St. Paul elected officials? Why has there been no national outcry? Why do nurses take the blame when things go wrong at the bedside and administrators when things go right? Why do nurses show up, show extra, show well and boards of hospitals say no to all innovations from within? Why would a hospital board Ever hire a consultant on nurses and patient care issues before asking their own nurses? Would those same boards Ever consider financial advice from those same nurses on how to run a business? And where are those board members going for their and their own family’s health care during the strike? Bet it’s not Allina.

3. Too bad that most of America realizes that politicians are usually wrong.

4. I will continue to say as in the above response, bet those board members have never been hospitalized or had a seriously ill family member hospitalized, otherwise they would appreciate nursing excellence. Ignorant fools!

5. I it is lie that the union has asked Allina back to the table and that Allina has not responded. That is a fact!

6. Hospitals do all they can to marginalize nurses. Evidenced by never unbundling nursing from room charges. How many states have Safe Harbor for nurses? Why has ANA not championed these? Why no discussion of and legal defense for wrongfully terminated nurses? Why is safe staffing laws not fully supported? In meantime, 400,000 preventable patient deaths per year. No other industry could survive thrse numbers; the effect on clientele and on front line providers.

7. Thank you to all the Representatives and Senators for supporting and speaking out to Alina Health Care. Very well stated by all.

8. Where are all the Republican legislators? Thank you to the great group of legislators & council members for your continued support of nurses!

9. So sorry to rain on your parades but you are getting little public sympathy from me. My wife is an Alina hospital employee and her health plan benefits provides better coverage and at a far less expensive cost than my employer plan does. From what I understand Allina has offered signing bonuses and raises every year. My employer is the nations largest with over 2 million employees and has given its employees the following raises over the last six years: 0%, 0%, 0%, 1%, 1.5% and 1.6%. So no sympathy here from a full time employee who is not given full benefits after 16 hours and who’s health cost has risen every year more than the raises given. You can verify this info at http://www.opm.gov

10. Dear Not Sympathetic it sounds as if union organization would be of great benefit to you as well. There are many resources available to help you began to organize! Best wishes for all Americans in being paid fair wages and benefits. If this is not possible it sounds as if a career change may be beneficial. Very Sincerely.

11. The union is lying to it’s members, lying to the media and pulling stunts to distract the media because their only “excuse” to keep their cadillac plan is “because we want it”.

12. We hear what the nurses are demanding. The question is what from the status quo are they willing to give up in return for these extra things? Also how much are you spending on the bombardment of radio ads that could be going towards a supplemental health care plan or training?

13. The union is spending the money on radio ads, not Allina.

14. All of those who declare that America’s workforce is asking for too much – who is blinding you to the obvious truth of our current America?

    We are shackling our youth with unforgivable college debt to qualify for jobs that don’t pay like professional jobs need to.

    The middle class has to pay a health care premium for family care that is equivalent to 30-50% of their total salary + benefits (and it doesn’t matter if it is covered or not).

    Just the college loans and health care ALONE take more than 50% of the total salary and benefits of the average middle class person 40 and under – but we sit hear and argue about nurses asking for TOO MUCH?

    It is time that the whole of the country’s work force organize and unit to create a 3rd political party – the American Labor Party – less entitlements, more benefits for labor and middle class, and policies that stop Corporations from bilking pensions and benefits for long term employees!

    Why the CEOs of Allina stop taking gigantic bonuses and salaries first – $2.7 million sounds like TOO MUCH!

    And of course – that’s just his Salary – nobody knows off hand how much he receives in Stocks/Dividends, etc.

    And isn’t it AWKWARD that Allina employess wouldn’t automatically get the cadillac health plan?

15. Middle Class Political Party: Get your facts straight before giving your opinion. There aren’t CEOs at Allina. Only one. He doesn’t make $2.7 million. The CEO is a SHE. There are no stocks and dividends in a non-profit company. The insurance plan Allina employees have has a grade of A+. This is greatly appreciated by the other 30,000 employees who have the plans.

16. Good luck to my sister and brother nurses. Don’t back down, don’t give in. Alina is trying to destroy the union. Do not let that happen. The whole state is watching, nurses are holding their collective breaths for you. Hospital boards, CEOs and all other upper management are waiting for you to fail so they can apply additional pressure on their nurses and try to force unions out. If you fall, it will cause a domino effect across the state. Be brave and hold your ground.

17. Destroy the union. I’m with Not Sympathetic and others that are against the union and their shenanigans. Join the rest of America with mediocre wages, rising health care costs (be careful who you vote for), little to no raises, declining paychecks, increased hours, etc. I hear all of you complaining about a great plan. The health care plan offered is one of the better ones out there and cheaper. The funny thing is that you Unions are fighting the plans put in place by the people you endorse and elect.

18. Allina nurses need to go work in the real world. Where you DONT have :”resource” nurses, “iv team”, “code 99” nurse, CMT nurse (who assists md’s placing lines, sets up your art line- even levels it! CMT nurses come up with post surgeries and hook up things like Nicom, cvp. They have a good nurse to pt ratio. They have nurse aids on ea unit, with appropriate assignments. Unit secretaries who do a damn good job coordinating consults. They have so many resources I wonder how they keep their skills. Tney have benefits at 17 hours. They are spoild.

19. Totally agree with not sympathetic, not sympathetic 2, anonymous & Maggie on all points.

    I believe these nurses left their patients because they feel entitled to their unsustainable plans (period). It doesn’t matter that they are being offered a A+ plan to replace It. Don’t try to argue it was patient safety, etc. Those concerns were addressed.

    Allina has wonderful benefits (especially for those only wanting to work part time). To be able to get full benifits when working Just 16 hours is amazing.

    Striking nurses – if you don’t believe Allina has good benifits or don’t like the company then maybe it’s time to go to another health system (if they will take you). How do you put on your resume that you walked out on you patients because of the A+ plan?

20. I just learned that ONLY 8% of Allina nurses work 40 hours a week. Unbelievable!! This makes me even more perplexed. To the 92% part-time nurses – be grateful that Allina is paying full benifits (including A+ insurance) when you don’t want to be full-time.
    Good grief.

21. Totally agree with Not sympathetic, Not sympathetic 2, anonymous & Maggie as well. I have worked for several good non-healthcare companies over the last 15 years and Allina’s standard plans (the plans that all the rest of us at allina have) are better than any of those. Yet, somehow the Union has convinced you that its “fair” to have the rest of the employees subsidize the more expensive boutique plan you currently enjoy? That doesn’t sound fair to me.

22. Where is the Governor in all of this? From what I remember when he was running, he wanted our support. Where is he now?

23. Question: Is Allina really a nonprofit entity? I have worked here for nearly 12-years. When I began they were offering a 403(b) plan. But about seven years ago they switched to a 401(k) plan. I have always understood that for profit corporations cannot offer their workers a 403(b). In any case, why the switch? To me, this is evidence of their for profit status. And if they are, truly, for profit, then their business tactics make sense. Tactics such as buying out McDonalds and deferring everyone to Sodexo; merging Unity and Mercy; etc

24. Ralph, why do you think they bought out McDonalds? Not exactly the healthliest thing to have at a hospital, and poor for image. They were obviously getting paid by McDonalds to have them there, and they didn’t switch to sodexo, they’ve always had it. Sodexo is in most of our schools and hospitals, so I don’t know how you can say it’s a questionable business tactic which when buying out McDonalds cost them money. And yes they do still have 403(b) plans in addition to 401(k)’s. I don’t know where your facts are coming from. How much do you give to your union anyway? Why is everyone complaining of the Unity and Mercy merger? Park Nicollet and Health Partners merged recently without issue.

25. Strike was not worth it. Nurses lost weeks & weeks of income and more importantly the respect from fellow employees. Welcome to the Allina core plans. You will soon learn they are great plans. All of the other items were addressed before the open ended strike so enjoy your depleted back accounts. You deserve it.