Potential MN Nurses Strike?

[Brian]

Below is video of an amazing, heartfelt and to-the-point statement from Methodist Hospital RN Karen Anderson during today's bargaining session. Please watch and share this video as it sums up what this entire contract bargaining situation is all about!

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[lalalalexi]

Thanks for posting this. This is a big deal here in MN.

[PostOpPrincess, BSN, RN]

I think negotiating with NON PROFIT hospitals is the way to go..this is going to bite their proverbial rear ends in the "end"....

[MNRN2009]

I am also an RN at a non-MNA hospital. While I agree with the issues at hand (staffing levels, pensions, etc.), I don't know if I can get on board with a strike. I think it will compromise patient care way too much. I am hopeful that hospital management will see the light and come to their senses before it comes to that. But I just worry for the patients who will no doubt suffer because of a strike. And being a non-MNA hospital employee, I believe a strike will have an effect on our facility as well. The unit I work on is usually full to capacity through the week and empties out on the weekends. But it won't take patients long to figure out which hospitals to go to avoid the strike.

[dscrn]

A group Fairview Southdale nurses here say the hospital did NOT deliver any newspapers today to patients. Maybe had something to do with the front page story?

Front page of Star Tribune Today:

not the first time hsps have withheld printed info...

[dscrn]

so...hsp reps dont see any "crisis" of pt care...wait til the scabs show up, getting paid big bucks, not being familiar with the hsp, docs, pts...no one to ask questions of except mgt-the you know what will hit the fan!

[Chico David, BSN, RN]

Will the teamsters honor the picket line? The story I heard was that the 84' strike continued until the teamsters refused to make deliveries to the hospitals.

My guess is that they will. Unfortunately, as of now I think the Teamsters are not in the AFL-CIO, which the MN nurses are via their being part of NNU. But the teamsters and other non-AFL unions participate in a lot of federation activities at the local level, so it's likely they will honor the picket line.

[vivacious1healer]

I received this email yesterday before I even knew of a strike in MN.

No way I would take such an assignment

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Mass Email to all Nurses:

We are looking for RN's who are willing to cross union lines to work at Minnesota Hospitals during a strike,

June 1st is the approximate start date.

Wages are yet to be determined but the pay will be EXCELLENT !

We require the RN's to:

A. Have current/non-restrictive Minnesota License.

B. Current 2 Step TB

C. Health Statement from Doctor in the last 2 years stating: " This person is in good physical and

mental health, free of communicable diseases and is able to function and perform all job duties

without any physical limitations in his/her profession at full capacity".

D. Checklists by department, ER, OB,

E. Current Resume/Application

F. Able to work all shifts, including weekends, average of 50 hours a week or more.

G. This could be for 1 or 2 days or last for a few weeks.

There are other items that would be needed but as professionals I am sure that most of you have those items already available.

If this is something you would be interested in please call or email me as soon as possible.

Thank you,

Wally

[HM2VikingRN, RN]

I won't scab. The only way to make management negotiate in good faith is to not provide them with the tools.

In the big picture crossing picket lines hurts your wages and benefits in the long run.

In solidarity.

[HM2VikingRN, RN]

Merged threads

[Chico David, BSN, RN]

not the first time hsps have withheld printed info...

My hospital has newspaper racks in a public area. During our original organizing drive the local free weekly had a cover story about it and someone in admin pulled all those papers off the rack. Which succeeded in making them look like a laughingstock and gave us another story of their paranoia to spread around. That sort of mindset never learns though.

[Chico David, BSN, RN]

For the folks who have trouble with the idea of a nurses strike, here are a few thoughts:

1. Nurses strike as an absolute last resort when all other options have been exhausted. There was a recent strike of almost a month at Temple in Philly. The nurses had continued to bargain for many months after their contract expired, using every possible avenue at their disposal to try to move management - petitions, intervention by political and community figures, informational pickets. Management continued to be immovable in insisting on major cuts in the nurses benefits and a professionally unacceptable gag rule that would have barred nurses from speaking publicly about conditions at the hospital.

2. In some cases - clearly the case at Temple, and quite possibly the case at Minnesota, management goes into negotiations with the goal of provoking a strike - not with the goal of reaching a settlement that works for everyone. Why would they do that? Because they believe that the strike won't hold, the nurses won't have the fortitude to stick it out and they can break or at least severely weaken the union.

3. Virtually everything we think of as normal in nursing - decent salaries, benefits, every other weekend off - were won by union nurses using strikes as a tool. In the 60s, hospital nurses were paid less than hospital gardeners. Management woule be happy to take us back to those days and they intend to use the recession to try if they can.

4. If there were no scab agencies to provide strike replacement nurses (or no nurses willing to work for them), the hospitals would have to bargain a lot more reasonably with their staffs and we would all be better off.

[Chico David, BSN, RN]

Here's an interesting video of a nurse talking about some of the issues involved in Minnesota: