The union representing nurses at five Twin Cities hospitals says a strike will begin Labor Day because contract talks broke down.
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For more information on the strike, check out the negotiations pages of both the Minnesota Nurses Association (here) and Allina Health (here). But union says Allina still wants to shift too many costs onto nurses without adequately compensating them.
Replacement nurses are taking over Monday as thousands of union nurses at five Allina Health hospitals in the Twin Cities metro are beginning an open-ended strike.
But the union says the plan will cost nurses more in out-of-pocket expenses, noting the nurses have a high risk of getting a workplace-related illness or injury.
Approximately 1,500 highly skilled and experienced temporary nurses will work alongside Allina Health’s regular physicians, therapists, nursing assistants and other caregivers at Abbott Northwestern, Mercy, United and Unity hospitals and the Phillips Eye Institute.
In addition, at least three-hundred and fifty of their own nurses have agreed to continue working despite the strike.
“Allina Health makes a promise to the communities we serve, and we are absolutely prepared to fulfill that promise come 7 a.m. Monday”, Allina’s chief executive, Dr.
Kanihan assured patients that they would receive top quality care even if the strike costs the hospital money, CBS informed.
They devised a plan that allows them to be on strike and care for emergencies at the same time. “All that does is improve the quality of care that those patients received”. About 350 of the 4,800 union nurses have said they will cross picket lines. The union has filed more than a dozen claims with the National Labor Relations Board – the arbiter of good faith in negotiations – arguing that Allina has tried to create an impasse by refusing to budge on its health insurance demands.
The strike scheduled for Monday is an unfair labor practices strike, not an economic strike, which is a legal designation that provides some protection to the strikers and keeps them from being permanently replaced for striking, Fuentes said.
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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.
