Negotiations ended, after Allina’s last offer was rejected.
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Everyone was shocked at the outcome, and nurses made a decision to go through with the strike.
Allina officials said Sunday they plan to operate the affected hospitals at normal capacity and that patients can access the hospitals as they would normally. The hospitals have been lining up replacement nurses, but that’s an expensive proposition.
“This employer has been trying to artificially create an impasse so they can either implement their terms on the nurses and/or replace the nurses”, MNA spokesman Rick Fuentes said in an e-mail.
Despite 22 hour long talks on Friday and early Saturday, the two sides could not come to an agreement on a new three- year contract which expired on June 1.
This will be the second strike this summer for the nurses.
Ciampi was one of 500 nurses who picketed outside United Hospital in St. Paul alongside family and friends and other union members Monday. In preparation, Allina recruited 1,500 temporary nurses from across the country.
Allina is not offering water births for the duration of the strike but said that it doesn’t intend to suspend any other services at this time.
Services such as childbirth classes and tours at Abbott have been canceled in anticipation of a strike, but core services like emergency care will be maintained.
Now, the same group of nurses had already gone on strike in June, but for only a week.
Before Allina can impose its most recent contract offer, it must satisfy a federal requirement that it first negotiate in “good faith”. Allina has since altered its position, offering to let the nurses keep their two most popular plans. This includes wage increases, a ratification bonus, a long extension on the two most popular insurance plans, and a delay on the existing proposed premium cost increase.
The nurses who are on strike have also agreed to return to the hospital if an emergency medical situation arises that the replacement nurses can’t handle alone, a news release from the Minnesota Nurses Association says.
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“With any strike, you’re going to have a handful of people cross the picket line for whatever reason, but we don’t know where that number comes from”, Ciampi said. The main sticking point with the nurses is changes to their health insurance.
