Potential MN Nurses Strike?

HM2VikingRN, RN · Jun 7, 2010

I agree that I have the hospital names wrong (for which I take responsibility) but the proposal of floating nurses within a system from hospital to hospital is accurate. I have no doubt that some of the bean counters believe that nurses are interchangeable widgets within their systems. Again assignment, workload and fatigue all directly impact patient safety.

(My boss is a lot of things but her integrity cannot be questioned. She is the right wing version of me and she says the hospitals are lying about wages in their ads.)

A one day strike is smart strategy and it minimizes the impact on bargaining unit members. A day at a time keeps the scabs out of the mix. The profit isn't there for the scabs.

Chico David, BSN, RN · Jun 7, 2010

I would just add that the California Nurses Assn has made extensive use of one-day strikes in becoming the largest and strongest nurse union in the country. We rarely do open-ended strikes but there is a place for both.

ao444 · Jun 9, 2010

DOWN WITH THE MNA!! This strike is internally about PENSIONS - the MNA has only mentioned 'patient safety concerns' publicly because that's what gets attention. This is not 1935 - it's ridiculous to think hospitals are going to risk unsafe patient conditions or overwork their nurses. Funny how you hear nothing from the MNA until union negotiations are up. If it was a real concern, it'd be in the media constantly. Unions are held to poor legal standards for factually reporting data where hospital administrations are held to very high legal standards - of course the unions are going to look better in the skewed media!! Just wait 3 years when contracts are up again...then we'll all hear about the next round of absurd claims. Don't believe everything you hear - dig a little deeper before supporting this strike.

ao444 · Jun 9, 2010

OHHHH not only risk patient safety by striking, send hospitals further into the red in this economy by refusing to go to work like a toddler throwing a tantrum, but also file for unemployment and suck funds from the general public....very upstanding of you. You should feel great.

ao444 · Jun 9, 2010

"Given the way the negotiations have unfolded I have an extremly difficult time believing that this is about patient safety and not about money.

From the beginning MNA has been shrieking about the reduction in pension accrural rates (They're stripping our pension! It's like going back to the 1960's!!!). Meanwhile an educated perusal of the proposals shows that the hospitals are reducing the rates from 1.65 to 1.1. Everybody who has earned thier pension keeps what they already accrued. Meanwhile Allina makes a strong case when they indicate that funding the pension at the current rate costs them $87 million this year. Up from the past 3 year averages of $42 million. I have a hard time seeing this as unreasonable.

MNA then went on to try and demonize upper management. They raved over salary increases for the CEOs. "If they get raises so should we! Maybe if they took a paycut there'd be more money in the budget for us!" Never mind the fact you could cut their wages to zero and still not have enough for the pension.

In an incredibly ironic move they then created YouTube clips of professional athletes thanking MN nurses. It's evil for CEOs to make huge salaries, but let's use others who make more as part of the propoganda. *eye roll*

Then of course there's the issue of what MNA has asked for in the contract: increasing the pension accrural rate to 2.0. Increasing the wage SCALE (which already has built in increases every year) by 4.5% every year for the next 3 years (which I might add yields a greater than 4.5% increase in wages per year). They also want insurance premium rates to be covered at 100% for all plans up from the 75-80% coverage we have now.

MNA only started making this sound like it's more of a safe staffing issue in the past few weeks. Their previous propoganda failed to inspire nurses into thinking a strike may be necessary. From what I've heard most nurses were against a strike when the issue was the pension, make it more palatable to the nurses emotions and you've got the makings of a strike.

I don't trust the MNA. They want increased wages for increased dues. They were grossly useless during last year's layoffs. They've done nothing to help rose of us who were laid off or displaced get our jobs back. It's been almost a year and I haven't heard a peep from a single one of them regarding the possibility of getting my old position back.

Safe staffing makes for a nice sound bite. I'm convinced this is about the money. Unless MNA starts showing some indication that they've attempted to make concesions themselves I don't think I will have any difficulty crossing the line if they strike. What's more, I don't think they realize how many nurses are disinclined to strike and potentially trash their credit scores when they can't pay bills this month. Most of our families depend on the (comparitively awesome) salaries we bring home each month."

BRAVO! Of course people will believe what they hear in the media as unions can say whatever they want, no matter how skewed when hospitals are held to high legal standards of factual data reporting. If people took a second to look a little deeper and learn what is REALLY going on, they'd see this is based on poorly rooted claims and has money at it's core, not patient safety.

allnurses Guide · Jun 9, 2010

...Maureen Schriner, an independent public relations contractor who represents the six hospital groups, told reporters Friday, "Why would we want to adopt the California system, when there's no proof these nursing ratios actually result in better patient care?" ...
http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=852205&catid=396

Proof? http://www.nursing.upenn.edu/chopr/Documents/Aiken.2010.CaliforniaStaffingRatios.pdf

http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/288/16/1987

littleneoRN · Jun 9, 2010

The unsafe staffing reports have been filed all along. But nurses don't have right to strike over unsafe staffing when the contract is in effect. THAT is why you're hearing about them now. I can tell MANY personal stories in my relatively short career, but taking them to the media wouldn't have changed anything. Now we have a chance, so now you hear about them. But I have a whole file folder of copies of the reports I have filed saved in my basement. Oh, and I have never received a single response to any of them.

And although the pension is a contentious issue, this strike is on the labor contract, not the pension negotiation, which is a separate negotiation. That is why St. Francis is not participating in this strike as they are part of the pension negotiations but not currently negotiating a labor contract. The pension issue is sitting out there separately. If the labor contracts were settled before Thursday, the strike would be cancelled, even if the pension negotiation was still pending. Of note, there is a pending authorization to strike for the pension negotiations also, so there is potential for a strike on this issue. But Thursday's strike is an Unfair Labor Practice Strike, not an Economic Strike.

Leyla~ · Jun 9, 2010

Nothing like having the MNA further trash our reputations for the public. Now we're airing "horror stories" of short staffing to sway the public towards our cause. That's not going to back-fire at all :uhoh3: I've been following the comments on the Star Tribune's online articles. The stories are being viewed as nurse incompetence, situations that would have been improved by increasing nursing assistants, totally fabricated lies, and mostly the public is stating that if these horrors were really occurring the nurses should have brought it to the public's attention well before contract negotiations began. The other thing it's doing is creating more fear for our patients, just the sort of compassionate move nurses should be making.

As it is, most of the stories WOULD really show the need for increasing nursing assistants; pt falls due to lack of checks, unable to get patient up off the floor because there aren't enough staff, dying patient sitting in own feces because there wasn't anyone to help the nurse clean him up. Time spent ignoring patients to do admissions seems to be a frequent issue. Why would you ignore your other patients entirely while doing an admission that doesn't need to be completed for 24 hours? Where's the insight regarding what's important? Our hospital has recently changed the flyer RN position to an ADT (Admission Discharge Transfer) nurse position to alleviate some of the stresses caused by those situations. I like this sort of creative problem solving. We don't need more nurses on every floor just to manage admissions and discharges.

Of course MNA won't be advocating to increase the number of nursing assistants (though I would personally love more CNAs than RNs on the floors that I've worked) because CNAs don't further line the union bosses pockets.

allnurses Guide · Jun 9, 2010

new nurses union sets aggressive agenda

from left, nurses barb warren-bloms, from north memorial medical center; cheryl regan, from united hospital; and modest okorie, of bethesda hospital, listened as another nurse testified to the dire results of inadequate hospital staffing during a news conference tuesday.

with the twin cities walkout, bedside nurses say they won't be ignored as they fight for a strict patient-nurse ratio....

..."those of us going on strike are looking at saving future patients," said ross, a veteran twin cities nurse who is one of three nnu co-presidents.

"not enough of us said, 'no, stop that.' we are saying it now."...

http://www.startribune.com/local/95919194.html?elr=karks:dciuo3pd:3d_v_qd3l:c7cqkuid3apc:_yyc:auu

Brian, ASN, RN · Jun 9, 2010

Here is a quick poll for AN users we just put up, let us know what you think?

Minnesota Nursing Strike - what do you think? - Nursing for Nurses

woknblues · Jun 10, 2010

Posted my vote! As a newly minted RN, I can only say that I look forward to this kind of action spreading across the country to us here in FL.

Batman25 · Jun 10, 2010

I fully support them.