VIEW DETAILS OF THE SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT
The short version summary of this agreement is that all the hospitals’ takebacks and concessions are GONE, the pension is untouched and all the benefits of your current contract (including MNA Health Insurance, etc.) remain in place as they always have been. In essence your entire contract has been completely protected and preserved. We will be having an all-member vote on July 6th from 6:00 a.m. to 10 p.m. to officially ratify the contract. Voting will happen at two locations – the MNA Office in St. Paul and Park Center High School in Brooklyn Park.
In this economic climate it is literally unheard of to reach a labor agreement with ZERO concessions. By preventing the dozens of concessions that would have gutted our profession, we ARE working to keep our patients safe! For instance, we fought back against the dreaded “floating” (aka a nurse is a nurse is a nurse) language the employers wanted. We also fought back the employers wanting to take away our nurses’s right to Unit Closure. And this is not the end of the safe staffing crusade. Rather, it is the beginning! What was the public’s consciousness of the staffing issue back in February versus today? What about 20,000 MNA Nurses standing together on this issue before the MN Legislature and other entities? What about the hundreds of patients who have contacted MNA wanting to share their unsafe staffing stories with the public? We have only BEGUN to fight for safe staffing.
Our union is stronger than ever. Standing together through the past three months, showing our solidarity in ways that any other union would die for, we proved we are MNA STRONG and ready. Just because we ultimately could not get the safe staffing language we wanted in this particular contract does not mean this was a failure or that it can’t happenin the near future. The staffing issue has been something MNA nurses have been fighting for since the early 1990s. Remember this is a long road and the past 3-4 months we made MAJOR progress on the unsafe staffing issue. If we stay united and fired up about staffing, we WILL get there!
Statement from MNA Bargaining Team Member Jim Danielson, RN: “As one of the bargaining team members, this was a decision that had many facets. We have many people who depend on the hospitals and nurses to work together. With this agreement, we protect many people, both RN’s and patients. There are a variety of viewpoints and we represent nursing to ALL of them. We have professional obligations, we have emotional considerations, and financial. This was a fight, but it is not war. I, for one, do not want our patients, our nurses or our hospitals to be mortally wounded by our actions. We have other avenues to continue this fight for safe patient care that does not leave as much collateral damage. We will pursue those avenues and continue this battle into the future. Hopefully we will have an improved system 3 years from now partly due to this agreement.”
OFFICIAL STATEMENT
The registered nurses and the hospitals believe a settlement of the labor agreement at this time is in the best interests of patients and our community.
The Minnesota Nurses Association and the fourteen hospitals that have been engaged in negotiations since March have reached agreement with the assistance of the Federal Mediation andConciliation Service on the terms for new collective bargaining agreements. The contract settlement is subject to ratification by the registered nurses represented by the Union, but the Union’s negotiating committees covering all fourteen hospitals have agreed to favorably recommend the settlement for ratification.
The Minnesota Nurses Association and the hospitals have agreed to a renewed commitment to working through both parties’ staffing issues through the existing committee systems at the various hospitals.
The affected hospitals are Abbott Northwestern Hospital, Bethesda Hospital, Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota, Fairview Southdale Hospital, Mercy Hospital, North Memorial Medical Center, Park Nicollet Methodist Hospital, Phillips Eye Institute, St. John’s Hospital, St. Joseph’s Hospital, United Hospital, Unity Hospital, and the Riverside Campus of the University of Minnesota Medical Center, Fairview. This also includes a recommended ratification for the Pension Contract at St. Francis Regional Medical Center in Shakopee.
Tags: 2010 Bargaining
thank goodness that finally people on both sides came to their senses
The nurses were never senseless in this stand for their livelihood now and in the future. If you think not, you need to get informed with facts, not personal opinions and heresay.
I wonder what would have happened if the TCH gave in on patient to nurse ratios, and held their ground on cutting pensions, health ins and wages – Phoney nurses
YAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!! Thanks team. I knew we could count on you. Thanks to our nurses who stood in solidarity, we stood together in a line the hospitals could not cross.
WOW, It’s over! A big hug and kiss to our MNA negotiators and the many others who have been helping in the effort! We are the mighty might nures’s! We are 12,000 strong!
Settled, just before the union was busted wide open. I can’t wait to read the accepted proposal.
Thank you MNA! My mother and wife are both RN’s, you have no idea how happy our family is this afternoon!
Thank you guys so much for all of your hard work and effort and hours put in. You guys are unbelievable.
There really is a Santa, Tooth Fairy Easter Bunnies and a bunch of other really good things, apple pie, family, friends, supporters, our patients that believed that we were fighting for them! I am so happy… I cried! Thank you MNA RNs, thank you reps and coworkers that stood strong in their commitment to each other and to what is truly important! SOLIDARITY still stands strong. Those that believe and are willing to fight for what is right! MNA RNs are not whimps! This was a very important lesson that was learned here. Hopefully, we will all remember what was taught. Some have learned it the hard way…
SOLIDARITY!
And to the Union Busters and SCABS…
Go Home!
You’re not needed or wanted anymore!
MNA reps… Thank You!
Thank You!
Thank You!
Thank You!
you may call us scabs, but these are children’s lives at stake!!! Would you not want us to come help and take care of your patients while you fought for what you believed in and needed??? Would your patient’s families not want their children cared for? How about those on ventilators in your PICUs and ICUs?? Were you going to teach their mother’s how to use the ventilators on your way out the door? We don’t doubt that you may have some unsafe working conditions and that your strike may be necessary, but we are not coming to take your jobs! We have our own that we are taking a leave of absence from and leaving our families behind so that we could come care for your patients so that you could be free to fight for what you believe in and believe that you patients need for a superior patient expierience! I say GO YOU!!!! But don’t be upset with those of us coming to help. There won’t be cars left on the assembly line or construction stopped on a house or plane when you walk out. There will be patient’s lives at stake…..wouldn’t you want someone to fill in???
MNA RN
sounds like arrogance that you put down the nurses who came to help take care the patients while you were standing out side hollering. shame on you! Where is your professionalism!
Though I am an MNA nurse & stood together with my co-workers I am disheartened when people insult those who came to take care of our patients while we stood our ground. May they be motivated primarily by money? Maybe. Does their willingness to do that weaken our key areas of leverage in our stance against the hospitals? Probably. BUT the reality is our patients still needed nursing care and in order for them to be safe someone needs to be there to provide that care, I’m glad that some people are or we would not be allowed to form unions. Because of the nature of our profession we’ve only been allowed to do so for the last 40 or so years.
I’m going to miss you MNA RN! Your spirited blogs have been appreciated. If I am sick and need a nurse I want my nurse to be just like you! UNAFRAID!!! With deepest respect and in solidarity…
Dear JC:
I don’t know who you are. But, I have been aware of you on this blog site.
This may not be all that we could have hoped for but at least we will continue to have a voice and ground to stand on so that we can continue to fight. In this life we seldom “get” everything that we want… but at least we will be able to continue to strive for what is right. This outcome only helps us to be able to continue with the fight to improve on patient safety and the very existence of the nursing profession. It will enable us to continue to move forward. This is by no means the end… it is only the beginning of what we will continue to fight for. Lessons were learned for those of us that were open to learning. If you have integrity and character… somehow the pieces fall into the right places.
JC… thank you for the support and solidarity you have spoken and demonstrated in all of your statements… I have been aware of you the entire time. And yes, I would fight just as hard for you as I would fight for any patient of mine. I would want a nurse that would fight for me as if they were fighting and advocating for a member of their own family.
Thank you for your support and kind words.
Sincerly and in Solidarity… MNA RN
This is for those who don’t know what the word SCAB means…..
1scab
Pronunciation: \ˈskab\
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, of Scandinavian origin; akin to Old Swedish skabbr scab; akin to Old English sceabb scab, Latin scabere to scratch — more at shave
Date: 13th century
1 : scabies of domestic animals
2 : a crust of hardened blood and serum over a wound
3 a : a contemptible person b (1) : a worker who refuses to join a labor union (2) : a union member who refuses to strike or returns to work before a strike has ended (3) : a worker who accepts employment or replaces a union worker during a strike (4) : one who works for less than union wages or on nonunion terms
4 : any of various bacterial or fungus diseases of plants characterized by crustaceous spots; also : one of the spots
THANK YOU MNA!!! This is wonderful news for us and our patients! A great way to start the holiday weekend. Thanks to all the nurses who stayed strong during this battle, it will be a legacy for generations to come…
WOW! Is this for real?
Praise Jesus!!
I second that!!!!! AMEN
Where is the safe staffing language? What is the point?
Onward to the legislature…the public will remember our stand…call your elected officials!
Dear JC:
Like I said… it’s only the beginning of the fight for right.
We have been fighting this battle for generations… I guess we can go for a few more…Eh?
The younger nurses will continue to carry the tourch. (At least the strong and determined ones, the ones who will hold their integrity and character as a treasure that no one can buy for a price or false promise…)
They are the ones who will continue… They will be a source of the solutions instead a source of the problem.
Progress was made toward safety as the language to be able to float a nurse to just anywhere was not accepted. This IS an important step. We have brought the issue of safe patient staffing into the public eye. We can continue to work on this through a variety of avenues including the legislature.
To Laurie@HealthEast:
Yes, progress was made towards patient and nurse safety. We need to continue to make progress. We continue to move forward even if the steps are small. We retained the right to continue to advocate for our patients and our profession. We still have our voices and the ability to voice our concerns. We were not silenced. We still need to do more.
I agree, where are the staffing ratios???
Ahhhh…relief!
Thank you MNA for keeping us strong and focused!
12,000 nurses….can not me messed with!!!!
This is for the MNA RNs that stood strong and to our wonderful MNA Reps and for all those that joined our fight for right!
Champions of what? try acting liking team! It takes an entire team to care for patients. It takes housekeepers, RT, PT, OT, dietary, MD’s? NP’s etc and admin to make your job possible.
Sounds like the cities’ nurses caved bigtime.
first of all, I would like to say THANK-YOU Cindy and all those who worked to hard for us. Then on another note, tammi and others with like opinions, there was far more at stake here than the staffing ratios and this agreement was a victory. I started to wonder how far we would get this time on the ratios and see this as a start to continued committment towards that goal. I was on strike in 84, and I would have walked out the door now, but I Thank God that I did not have to. My patients need me now! They were frightened by the possiblity that we were going to walk out, and I can live with this agreement without regret because of that. The raises were small, and I have no step increases but a strike would have wiped out years of raise, lol. Again , kudos to our team! You rock!!!
I still think we gave in to easy. We are worth everything that was on the bagaining table. Im voting ‘no’ on tues
To all nurses…
I agree that the “safe staffing” proposals did somewhat have to go to the wayside until we are able to fight that battle again, however, we did win in the sense that what the hospitals ultimately wanted was for a nurse to be a nurse and float wherever they “had a need,” now they have to abide by the previous contract that does not allow that. So, maybe we didn’t get all of the wordage we wanted but at least the hospitals didn’t get to make us work in MORE unsafe situations than we already have to deal with. So, in sum we did succeed in preventing conditions from worsening because I guarantee….they would have!
And to those of you that doubted or continue to doubt MNA…if you dislike MNA so much, try working in a rural hospital or a non-union hospital.. You should be thankful you have a union to stand up for STANDARDS and try to keep you safe at work! You should be the one looking into a mirror and questioning your own belief system!
Also, to those of you saying this was about money….are you serious?!?!? Do you REALLY think that 1% raise that I will get in 2 years is what I was willing to strike over? That just makes me laugh at how STUPID that sounds! Those of you that think this was about money must not be in healthcare or for sure a RN!
Best news I’ve heard in a LONG time
I felt like I could breathe again when my Union rep announced this today.
Good job MNA negotiators!
We Are The Champions-Queen
http://www.youtube.com
We will always be there to do the right thing!
YEA!!!! Thank you bargaining team!!
I thought it was all about staffing ratios… am I wrong or wasn’t that the whole point of “we care for you” that you wouldn’t back down from the nurse to patient raio? Also, the statement that “all the hospitals’ takebacks and concessions are GONE” isn’t exactly true considering the raises are now 0%, 1% and 2% for the next three years, respectively. What a joke.
Josh
A raise is a raise, it is not a take back, and 4 days on strike would negate the 3% raise. Definately not worth striking for.
Good work.
Praise God!!! Thank you all for all of your hard and difficult work in making this happen. You all deserve Gold Medals!!! We are all so proud of you and your commitment to all 12,000 of us and the future of nursing!!! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!!!
Well thank God for this! Regardless of the positions taken by both sides, a strike hurts everyone. Kudos to both sides for coming to an agreement.
Way to go ! Thankyou so much for all your hard work and hours spent in negotiations. I couldn’t make myself enter the hospital where I have worked for more than 25 years, this week. I was losing all respect for the institution and it’s management. Hopefully, this will change now.
Thanjyou again , and job well done.
First, I respect and appreciate all the work the negotiating team did. THANK YOU. Yet I have to share – I was willing to strike for many things that did not affect me directly, yet I am saddened and perplexed given the sense of financial stress people are under, that people aren’t willing to strike over wages. DO YOU KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN 0/1/2 and 3/3/3? MNA should have educated members on this so people could make an educated decision on this issue as well. Example: the DIFFERENCE BETWEEN 0/1/2 and 3/3/3 for an RN making $35/hr, working 2000 hrs/yr is as follows: in the first 3 years: $10,039 less. First 10 yrs: $40, 671 less! 15 yrs: $62,551 less! I do not understand how so many people in financial need are willing to give this up? Given Region’s 3% to their RNs, and that the hospitals met us on EVERYTHING else (with the staffing being removed from the rest of the contract) why did we give up on wages? I am very disappointed, to put it mildly.
Try that math with the millions of people with NO JOB! They didn’t lose money and didn’t lose staffing or lose pensions. You are actually whining that this win wasn’t big enough???? You are clearly out of touch with the real world.
Do Not Vote for this Contract/ Compromise !
Paid persuader (union busting 101)
He nurse,
4 days on strike would negate the 3% raise.
Strike for wages and you lose money bigtime. Been there, done that for 5 1/2 weeks in 1984. I also hear from people that used to work at regions that yes, they got the raise but the Regions is already doing a lot of things to their nurses and we were fighting against here. Regions nurses, what do you think?
So now the MNA does’t care about nurse to patient ratio for safety, must have been all about the money after all.
About the money? we are agreeing to no raise this year and it sounds like the hospital has committed to working out safe staffing proposals. I don’t think we sold out.
Dear HE RN:
We didn’t sell out. Some of the postings are from trolls and they don’t have a clue about what they are even talking about. They probably didn’t even read any of the details of what was finally reached in arbitration and don’t grasp the contents or understand the concept of having to give and take during negotiations (especially one that was this contentious). Some just want to whine and continue to complain because that’s just what they seem to do. I thank our MNA Reps/stewards… we appreciate all that you have fought for. Thank you to our RNs that were in there sitting at those tables… they fought and endured during this daunting task. There is and always will be the need to do more.
So what happened to the safe staffing issues? Wasn’t that the number one priority?
I am relieved and grateful to our bargaining teams. But I too am wondering about the “safe staffing” language. Where did it go? I’m feeling like maybe we were manipulated somewhat by the union, in that they pinned everything they did on “safe staffing”…I’m a nurse…of course that struck my heart chord! Did the union purposefully manipulate us from the very beginning in order to get the support it needed knowing all along…”Safe staffing” wasn’t really what it was about? The battle cry..”safe staffing” certainly worked with us.
Let’s hear the details before we complain or congratulate. We have yet to vote……………….
If you haven’t learned anything else you should know that it is IMPOSSIBLE to please all of the people all the time.
I commend members of MNA Negotiating Team for offering our nurses effective representation.
My joy in particular and that of my colleagues in general knew no bounds on hearing the news of this settlement.More grease to your elbow,MNA.
I am excited over the huge accomplishments of our bargaining team, however, very disappointed in the lack of pt ratios. Isn’t this what it was all about? I feel as though the hospitals are still getting away ahead and we are giving up.
i am so relieved we are not going on strike! thanks mna reps for all your hard work. i know it must have been grueling.
I agree with HE nurse if you let them slide reguarding staffing issues who’s to say what will happen as a result of settling.
I am a travel RN I helped cover the last strike. I can honestly say that nursing is becoming very unsafe. RN’s are just a number and a warm body anymore. I have worked in Trauma ICU’s being told by supervisors that I am required as a traveler to take three true ICU pts.. Hospitals refuse to change to make better working conditions because of their ole mighty dollars that are lost.. I am glad that you were able to settle,but sad for the outcome you may be faced with for deciding to settle.. Good luck…
Let me get this straight… You were a SCAB that worked our one day strike, you crossed our picket lines to profit from the MNA RNs fight? Then you come to this site and whine that we didn’t fight for more so that you could come back in the future to profit and capitalize on the sacrifices that we had to make to get better working conditions?! You have the guts to complain that “nursing is becoming very unsafe” (but do absolutely nothing to improve it and you stab your fellow RNs in that back because they are fighting to improve nursing and the very future of nursing), you prolong the strike and the hardship on the nurses walking that line, and then say you come to rescue the patients because of the generosity of your hearts! You do it for the buck! $6,000-$12,000 at last count! You are a SCAB with a SCAB mentality!
Those “scabs” as you love to call them are just like you & me. The only difference is we don’t work through an agency & have to worry if we’ll have a job tomorrow & a full paycheck come payday. Tell me what’s wrong with making a few extra bucks in times like these. I’ve read your comments & you true colors come through loud & clear so I’m pretty sure you’d do just a about anything to get a head. The one thing that seperates you from the “scabs” is a heart. Those nurses left families/friends even if for a day or so to come here to care for our patients to allow you to exercise your right to strike. It’s time for you to get of your high horse before you fall off or worse before someone knocks you off.
I’ve thought about this often since I first read your comments & I just can’t imagine what it would be like to be filled with such anger & hate. I truly feel sorry for you.
I can tell you this MNA RN, if scabs did not come in to care for out patients, you can damn well bet I would stay and take care of my patients, and I would expect the same from every nurse. We don’t abandon our patients! First do no harm. If they were not allowed in, or didn’t come, we would not be allowed to fight, we would not be allowed to strike. You should hope they do a good job too, I don’t want patients dying. We are not a motor company turning over parts, these are people’s lives!
Well, a good MNA nurse would not accept a dangerous patient assignment because we up here have a contract!!! We are all about safety for our patients…And not too fond of scabs… whether homegrown or imported. they delay negotiations and solutions!!!
Don’t quite know what to think. Guess you would have had to be there. Sounds to me like we went through a lot of grief for nothing much more than no pay increase. I wouldn’t want to be a negotiator for anything. I think we have a lot of cry babies and whiners to thank for this because it’s hard to keep up the good fight when you don’t know if you are supported or not. Good thing I’m not working because I think I would give each potential “crosser” a swift kick in the ass for abandoning the pt in all of this. I hope they are the ones working in need of help. I know many RNs will want to tell pts “I’m sorry. We failed you.”, but they will continue on trying to cover for our weaknesses and the TCHs stupidity. Negotiators, I’m sure you did your best-sorry we failed you! Get some rest- it’s back to work.
We are all aware of who the “potential crossers” (put way too kindly) – Home Grown SCABS… we know who they are. They will still be whinning when Karma comes visiting them. Am I sorry that’s harsh? No I am not. The majority of us were willing to take the hits… “they” went and cowered in the corner and wet themselves. They put themselves and their well being over everyone elses. I wonder how proud of themselves they are now. They were willing to profit from their coworkers who were staying the course and had the gumption and backbone to endure it. I couldn’t have afforded it either… not many of us could…but we would have stood in solidarity with our coworkers and our sisters and brothers that were willing to do what it would take.
Solidarity!
We still have work to do. I am tired of listening to the whinners when there is so much that still needs to be done.
MNA RN – You really are something! You have no heart and are so closed minded. Just because we don’t all agree with you we’re “home grown scabs”. What ever happened to our own free will and the right to have our own opinions. We’re all adults and should be allowed to believe what we want without the threat of being shunned. We’re not always going to agree on what’s right. So you were in favor of the strike, I was not. Why can’t we just leave it at that? You should really grow up and learn to respect differing opinions.
To RN:
I do respect differing opinions. I sure as hell am not going to respect a SCAB. If you work in a union hospital and don’t like it… go work non-union.
Perhaps it’s better that you didn’t get your staffing ratios…the only way the hospital would be able to meet those demands would be to hire…gasp…temporary nurses! The horror! I suppose then you would be complaining about that.
Yes RN, stand for what you believe! You have to respect yourself afterall. Anyone who would shun a person choosing to cross is just a big cry baby. Let someone else be the judge and jury and worry about yourselves people. The union represents us, not the other way around.
And they did it for one day of pay…How is that backing the profession? Florence would be mortified!!!
THANK YOU negotiating teams for all your countless hours of work on our behalf.
In a strike, no one truly wins. Even the winners lose financially.
We have shone a bright light on the staffing issues and the hospitals can’t ignore the issues any longer. The public won’t stand for it.
Again I thank everyone at MNA and our teams.
This is why joe public doesn’t believe us when we say it’s all about the patients. We showed them the truth, it’s all about us. Sad.
You know…you still have a voice. You can vote this down. You can get those of you who did want to strike based on the right motives….staffing and vote this down. The union is about all of you. Some of us get scared and lose sight of what we were trying to do anyway. Some know the power of integrity and standing behind what they say.
I know the nurses are scared. That’s what bravery and courage is….standing up in the face of fear.
I was like WOW look at those Minnesota nurses they are going to make a difference.
It is disappointing and sad from an out of stater. MNA states go work at a nonunion hospital. Many do and they are having a heck of a time. So many are afraid of losing their jobs they won’t start a union. So we look to those who have unions to help make the changes.
I’m sure the union stewards will be going over the contract with a fine tooth comb. They may find they were dupped. I recommend all voters READ the contract, do not just take the recommendations of anyone. The union can make it available. Have an informed vote. Just like we tell our patients read the pharmaceutical handouts make an informed decision about a the drug you’re about ready to take in your body. I took a drug home and started reading the insert and if I had taken it in the state I was I would have killed me. My doctor prescribed it but he forgot about a condition I had that made this drug a bad choice for me.
Don’t let what happened to West Virginia LPN and dietary happen to you all. Make sure there is a succession clause in this contract or your union and pensions are busted. The West Virginia union did not catch it and I know the West Virginia LPNs and dietary did not know what a succession clause was….Many told me they felt they weren’t totally informed by their stewards and they weren’t. Probably because the negotiators thought the contract was going to be ‘exactly’ as is when they signed. They forgot how sneaky these contracts and hospitals can be… Remember they are a business and it is not about your welfare or the patients. It’s about the bottom line.
Why are you congratulating the MNA reps? Where are the voices for “Patients before profits?” It’s been all about the MONEY all along. You embarass yourselves!
We said all along, that we would gladly take the current contract we had, but the hospital said that was not an option. Well, we got exactly that, we got our contract that we have worked so hard for. We will continue to work on patient safety, its out there . These were not monetary gains, we accepted their wage proposal.
So are your patient’s going to be any safer? What happened for standing up for safe patient care. Good luck with the staffing task forces. We have them at one of the major Duluth hospitals. Guess what we had over 265 concern for safe staffing forms. We get know where with the staffing task force. Basically we are told work harder, smarter.
It’s clear now that our own union’s line that this was about staffing and not about money was b.s. I’m ashamed of MNA.
This was about not allowing the hospitals to break the union! First and foremost. We tried to move ahead with staffing lanuage, but we kept our footing, and didn’t loose ground. I don’t see why you would think this is about money, this was about some of our benefits, but we took the hospitals wage proposal, not MNAs.
Thank you negotation team and thanks to the hospital for finally hearing our pleas.
Sorry everyone, how can you be excited? Nothing gained, nothing. No patient staff ratios, increases in salary are nill, pleased how can you guys be happy? It’ s the same contract as we’ve had, all this hype for nothing! It’s hard to get support when you caved! Congrats hospitals you won!
Oh, ya legistature staffing ratios? Good luck with that. It didn’t work in the past and it won’t work now. All hype and nothing!
Take off we are the champions seriously people we have not won ANYTHING!!
Doesn’t sound like you’re too happy about anything…
You should try some sunshine in your life… I rather like the song myself… Are you one of the whinners? ‘Cause it really sounds like whinning. Maybe you will never win just because of your piss poor attitude.There are different levels to achieving goals. You don’t just stop because you make one goal. You keep going until you reach all your goals. Life is not about instant gratifications. You could always decide to be a part of the solutions instead a part of the problems.
But, I get the feeling that you just really like to whine.
What is wrong with you? I get the feeling your one of those bullies from elemetry school that picked on everyone else to make themselves feel better. Are you capable of communicating without saying such hateful things? Do you think so little of yourself that the only way you can get out of bed each day is to tear someone else down so you can use them as a step stool. How small of you. I’ll say it again… I feel sorry for you.
ONLINE “TROLLS”- go away and get a life.
REAL NURSES… let’s be a bit more patient. 4 paragraphs outlining the proposed contract doesn’t tell the whole story. Let’s give our negotiation team the benefit of the doubt and wait to hear what they have to say- we will have that opportunity prior to voting. Once we talk with them and get our questions answered, we can vote the way we feel is right.
Finally someone that makes sense!
I’m an RN at Abbott. Grateful to avoid the strike for many reasons, but mostly to avoid the stress of putting patients in the middle.
BUT it is disappointing that we have NOT gained anything on the front of establishing language to address staffing needs. This language would hold the TCH’s to contractual obligation to staff all units safely. DO NOT FORGET THIS NEED, MNA RN’s.
I am from Duluth, and came to join the one day strike line. I walked with a retired nurse who also came from out of the metro. We walked for SAFE PATIENT CARE. This agreement is a failure for what was supposed to be our main priority!!! Floors will continue to be under staffed, and pts. at risk. It wasn’t supposed to be about the money. Very discouraging.
MNA RN – I sure don’t know what your so excited about with your “solidarity” and “brother and sister” lingo. You LOST big time!! You claimed it was for pt care and staffting – which wasn’t changed – not even the language. You’re right where you have been for 3 years and without a raise. What was the point? Should have just settled to begin with.
But Jake – we couldn’t have JUST settled, could we? Negotiation means there must be dialogue-the hospitals refused to dialogue. You can’t have meaningful dialogue with oneself! The hospital’s offer was to have no contract. That is not a proposition that we can live with. In negotiation, each party wins some, loses some. Case in point. After 31 years in the profession, still alive to fight another day. That’s winning. Still working with good people who try hard every day. That’s winning. I can’t help the soul-killing greed that drives corporations, but I can help my attitude, my patients, and keep myself an example for the up-and -comers to follow. That’s winning, too.
Jake, have you not be following this? We wanted to extend our current contract to began with, the hospitals refused. They had 12 takebacks. In the end we got our same contract, the union is intact. We live to fight another day. Otherwise we wouldn not have. The union would have been broken with the language the hospitals wanted in there. I consider keeping my current contract which I love, and not having to strike, a huge win! Never cared about the raise.
All the folks who keep repeating the old nurse and union bashing garbage about “it’s all about the money” can go pound sand.
In a contract negotiation, neither side gets all that they demanded… it’s called compromise people. Why don’t you ask your MNA reps about specific issues before getting itchy fingers on the keyboard.
Dear Rusty:
I think you are wonderful!
You go Rusty!
I agree!
I’m relieved but disappointed, and the next time I’m told that I have to take another admit or that we don’t have a nurse for you next shift, sorry…well, I’ll think back to this moment. I would rather be looking forward to the rally at Midway Stadium.
!st, I want to thank MNA for all the hard work.
I watched Cindy O. message and saw a very different demeanor from previous talks. All we talked about was safe staffing and staffing ratios. We have NOTHING. The promise to keep working at it at the bedside gets us nowhere. We already know that!! Why would we trust TCH to work with us? It does feel like we have caved.
I’m grateful for no give backs, but why don’t we deserve something more? The ball was in our court, why are we settling. It seems that if we give into this ,we will lose our credibility to our profession, patients, TCH and the public
Dear Sue,
The ball is in our court…our next mission is to ratify this contract with a high percentage vote, I would like to see 100% myself but know that is a dream…To seal this deal for our voice in staffing problems we need a strong vote and a committment from all MNA members to continue pushing through all available avenues the concept of safer patient care with better staffing and patient outcomes…this will be what pays in the future-look at Joint commission recomendations folks…evidence base practice studies, insurance guidelines for payment…
As an out-of-state OR nurse who, by the way, was NOT coming to work the strike, I have been intrigued by watching all this go down. I have no vested interest in your plight (my staffing ration is always 1:1 and I don’t belong to your union or even work in MN), but I supported your stated cause: better nurse-to-patient staffing ratios and restrictions on floating. However, I find myself embarassed by what has transpired today … as a nurse. The safe patient care platform that started this movement (and brought national attention to your situation) has given way to what is perceived to be the REAL reason- Money, specifically pensions and wage increases.
You say that it is only the beginning of the fight for safe staffing, but it isn’t really, is it? You go on to say that the staffing issue has been something MNA nurses have been fighting for since the early 1990s. So, I ask you, why drag this out any longer? When you’ve got 12,000 nurses behind you on this one? Strike while the iron is hot. Right Now – keep the pressure on the hospital to CHANGE those staffing ratios. You’ll be doing justice to the patients and maybe even redeem yourself in the public opinion. I understand that concessions have to be made by both sides, but when the main points you hit on are pensions and retention of benefits … well, it doesn’t sit well. I hope that when the union nurses vote on the 6th they will stand solid and true to the original demands (at least what MNA SAID were their main concerns) and not accept this failure – and it IS a failure. In the meantime, I hope the public doesn’t perceive ALL nurses to be like MN Union Nurses.
I agree with your statement I was one of the nurses that covered the last strike. However, I strongly agree that nursing ratios are becoming a huge issue everywhere. The hospitals continue to get the upper hand because nurses fear the loss of their jobs. To all MNA nurses you did not stand for what you strongly believed in and this is so wrong! Nurses are the patient’s advocate can you say that you have been an advocate for them today?? Fight for what you know is right!! Set the example for all Nurses in other states to take a stand…
Right! What really disturbs me is the lack of a sense of urgency. Ms. Olson says the safe staffing crusade has just begun and will continue, and that compared to last February, the public is much more aware of the staffing problems at these hospitals, even that hundreds of patients have reported unsafe staffing situations to the MNA. Then what kind of message was sent to them today? MNA denounced the hospitals for these practices, then, by agreeing to the terms set forth today, pushed them to the back burner in favor of benefits. Huh? What would happen if the nurses pulled an old switcheroo and voted AGAINST the union recommendations? Would put MNA in quite a spot, now wouldn’t it? Oh, and we all know how well those “existing committee systems” work. This is a BIG issue that requires a BIG wake up call. Others on here have resigned themselves to the same ‘ol same ‘ol for the next three years. It’s a shame. Stand up, Minnesota nurses and Set a Precedent! What’s really important to you?
To RN ATL:
Let me get this straight… You were a SCAB that worked our one day strike, you crossed our picket lines to profit from the MNA RNs fight? Then you come to this site and whine that we didn’t fight for more so that you could come back in the future to profit and capitalize on the sacrifices that we had to make to get better working conditions?! You have the guts to complain that “nursing is becoming very unsafe” (but do absolutely nothing to improve it and you stab your fellow RNs in that back because they are fighting to improve nursing and the very future of nursing), you prolong the strike and the hardship on the nurses walking that line, and then say you come to rescue the patients because of the generosity of your hearts! You do it for the buck! $6,000-$12,000 at last count! You are a SCAB with a SCAB mentality!
Dear:
Out of state little girl 89,
I wish you great vacation time, benefits and and whatever else you earned by blogging on this site…You can take a break now cause we’re onto you…go home and lie down already….MNA nurses have been strong since the ’60s. No stopping now. With all respect if my dog acted like this she would be put in the kennel…Happy 4th of the July to all in MNA!!!!
You haven’t lost yet, you can all vote no on this agreement. This is what happened in 2001! MNA leadership encouraged nurses to agree to contracts that WERE NOT in theit best interests. Only SOUTHDALE held out. And they were not supported. If you believe that this is about SAFE patient care then VOTE NO to this contract! Why would you take this for three more years? The hospitals cannot balance their budgets on the backs of their nurses! MNA leadership needs to represent MNA members!
I don’t know if you are a paid persuader or a real MNA member but I recommend you get more information from your MNA rep before you suggest a no vote…
HCMCRN Thank you! MNA is us and it is our, My vote that makes my statement. and for JC please take the opportunity to read Peter Rachleff piece in this blog. Thka the time to think and ponder the history he presents.
I’ve been pulling for you MN nurses from Cleveland. I was appalled, but not surprised, to see fliers at the nurse’s station at the Cleveland Clinic hospital where I work offering $11,ooo pay for 2 weeks working as a strike breaker. Only one nurse I know of was considering it – shame to her! I hope your contract reads better than its synopsis…safe staffing ratios are needed across the nation! That should be kept as a top priority over pay issues if we want to keep the support of the public. Any lay person that ever finds themselves in a hospital sees how hard we work & experiences the effects of poor staffing. Good Luck!
Thank you Lyn! We appreicate your support. This experience has opened a lot of eyes I believe. We may not have gotten all that we wanted but at least we didn’t lose such a large portion of our contract, basically they stay as they previously were. The sad reality is, a lot of nurses are left with things to stay the way they were. We still need to address safe staffing a smaller RN:Pt ratio…We will ALL be patients someday…
Thank you from the North Memorial Home Health and Hospice MNA Staff..We support your decision and support your future efforts in promoting safe patient care…..Very Well Done!
Jake RN – you are clearly clueless- if we had settled to start with we would ahve no contract left. Know what you are talking about before you judge.
Seems to me, we settled over benefits. So much for “safe staffing”. How do others feel?
Heidi:
You already know what we think about you becasue we have said it so many times before. You have been outed so many times on this and other sites! Go home already. You wore out your welcome long ago! All you do is quack like a duck…
And all you do is make lame animal references and spew rhetoric. Guess what? Still no “outing” going on…..
Heidi, we really have to say goodbye now…No more dissention…MNA nurses stand behind their elected bargaining unit negotiators who are our peers! You are too negative anyway…get to a meeting to get your facts straight.
Yes, I feel a bit empty now. I feel it’s unfortunate that we made no forward movement on the staffing issues. Seems like a bunch of work to just maintain what we already had.
you can still vote to strike Heidi…..Doesn’t mean we will, but all MNA members have the right to vote. The % will decide. Vote how you choose.
A good victory for both parties. The MNA bargaining team could tell that the support with nurses was waining. The Hospitals too could sense this. In todays economy, It would have been hard for nurses to strike 30 – 90 days or so. It also would have been very difficult for the Hospitals to pay the expense of replacement nurse for that duration. It would have changed the ” cash on hand ” ratio, which would have decreased bond ratings and increased interest rates for them. Congrats on getting contract in place for a vote. MNA RN’S have no pay stoppage, PT’S have no interuption and the TCH group doesn’t have to spend all that money for replacements. I hope all parties involved learned a damn good lesson. Take care, good luck and God bless!!!
We settled for the pension and that’s it. Shame on MNA for putting us in the middle of that. And to the MNA RN who said I was whinning kiss my ***!!!
Thumbs up RN Twin cities!
I am glad we have our old contract back, however, this isn’t over… the lean project towards nursing is coming and don’t think the hospitals have given up their goal. We will have to communicate and be persistant in the upcoming 2 1/2 years to prevent a repeat of this negotiation. All staff nurses need to voice their concerns to their MNA reps during the next few years so we can ALL unite together. I think we have all learned a few valuable lessons over the past few months. 1. Be financially prepared for the unknown. 2. We are much stronger with a union, without it we would have had to deal with whatever the hospital dished out. Personally, this experience has brought me closer to many of my co-workers. Thank you MNA!
I am happy that are keeping our contrat intact. I thank the hard work of the MNA negotiating team for that part. However, I feel like I have been punched and betrayed when it comes to safe staffing issues. Now I will go back to work and continue to miss my breaks and stay overtime to just be able to provide safe care. There are many days that I have to forego a break just so I can to attend to all my pt’s needs so that they do not suffer complications. We are stretched too thin. Hospitals take away support staff along with having nurses taking on more. There were times when I felt myself doubting the union about the strict patient to nurse ratios, but I told myself believe in them, they are here to represent the nurses and our concerns. I definitely was hoping for more language around acuity. I am tired of when you are short RN’s and the hospital says “oh sorry, do what you can.” I attended yesterday’s meeting and here all this pep talk about how we are going to stay strong and battle this out for pt safety. Now today we have caved in and have no changes in language to help with safe staffing. For the past three years upper management has asked us to modify our staffing grid meaning less RN’s and less PCA’s. Now next year, we will be back at the table with upper management telling us to revise our staffing grid. I feel embarrassed we gave up on this fight.
Yay MNA! Thank you so much to our barganing team members for all of your hard work!!!!
I am speechless! What do we tell our patients that we accomplished for them if we accept this contract?
Tell them we can do more for patient safety from the bedside than on the street…we have maintained strong contract langauge that gives us a voice on the issues
This is a bittersweet moment…. I think everyone involved has invested so much emotion into this that when movement finally happened, when an agreement was finally made, we couldn’t help but initially be excited. The alternative would have been a very bleak future with our licenses’ and our patients’ safety even more on the line than where they’re at now. I fought for 2 things–patient safety and my profession. Now that the emotional high is over, I’m not sure if this is the right thing. I was prepared to empty what little I have in my savings, I cashed out my flex time, and have been searching for some job, any job. Even with that, I didn’t know how long I’d make it but I knew I wouldn’t cross. Now, I don’t have to do any of that. So there was that huge sigh of relief. This may take even more thought and prayer, but I’m thinking….I may want to…. continue this fight as gut-wrenching as that sounds at this point. We’re so close now. We might be able to do it and do it right. It’s up to us and our vote. MNA is now leaving that decision up to us. What does your heart tell you? Am I out of my mind for thinking this way?
Lady RN,
I think you described it perfectly- a bittersweet moment. I know that our contract does provide some measures for patient safety but I would like to see more.
I really respect you for cashing out your flex time and planning not to cross. I would have had hardships but not worse than other people and would not cross either. I am thinking along the same lines as you are about the vote. I would really like to hear what MNA’s plan is to continue to address safe staffing. So that I would know if I should vote to continue to fight.
So what has this accomplished? We are back to square one. People are talking about compromise but where is the compromise?
I will admit that I am not a fan of the union. I felt that they were more interested in pay and that the staffing ratios was just window dressing. In recent days I have thought that maybe it was more of a ratio issue after I read several of the other contracts from the other hospitals.
After today’s decision, I should have never doubted my initial thought. If this was about staffing issues then the union should not have been so excited about keeping the current contract which keeps the ratios in place for 3 MORE YEARS! If ratios are “the issue” then the membership should shoot this contract down.
The public is watching. If this contract is ratified, you can bet that the public is going to assume that this was all about money. I thought at first that this was a blunder by the hospitals but it is a public opinion coup.
So what is the membership going to do, take the contract and fulfill all the expectations of critics like me or will they turn down this contract and put ideals above money?
The public is watching.
Non Nurse Staff,
Yes, the public is watching and will be every time they set foot in a hospital. Public awareness will help with future legislative efforts…which will be the next appropriate platform for these patient safety issues…let’s move forward now…
!!!!!!Congratulations!!!! I am so proud to be in the same professional as you all. You saved ALL RN’s from the spoilers of quality Health Care. Thank you for your courage in spite of these hard times.
Thanks to all of those involved with the negotiations-the work you have done in the last 3 months was grueling.
Since this was NOT about the money-so many of us said that-I am not sure why anybody is complaining about the wages. I am happy to have a job and I think I get paid pretty damn good for doing something I truly enjoy.
We clearly need better staffing language, but the stiff ratios proposed I dont think was it. We need a system based on acuity. For all of you who have commented on how disappointed you are-become part of the solution and work with MNA, your hospital, or the legislature to get better staffing. Get involved.
This contract is great compared to what was originally proposed back in May!
We will all have to continue to fill out unsafe staffing concerns.
I do commend MNA for all the hard work you have put in these past few monthes but I don’t see how the Mpls nurses feel this is an accomplishment. I thought it was all about the safe staffing ratios and was the main reason you were fighting for. I am very sad you have chosen not to protect patient safety. How does this look to the public?
NPH – You can tell them that you are there to help them now, not standing on the sidewalk.
While I am glad the strike has been postponed, I do think that MNA needs to stop stating that the their were ZERO concessions, because their are concessions, its the wages…
But, this needs to be weighed against the lost wages that would have occured during a strike.
As far as not getting the staffing language, it isn’t just about getting new language added, it was also about preventing what was there from being removed.
I don’t think it is okay to drop the UFL charges. What about all the nurses who were /are locked out ? Does this mean it is okay to be treated that way by our employers ? What about the 100′s of charges filed ? Does that mean we say it’s okay to treat us this way and not have any consequences ? We were supposed to be standing up for staffing and it sounds like we are going back to what we have had and that did not work. The last slap is 0/1/2 % raise ! I was relieved not to strike but do not feel we gained anything. I know the MNA teams put in a lot of hours and I appreciate that. I just don’t see how I could vote for this contract.
Not the REAL MNA RN, beware of the paid persuaders still on the MNA blog, get specific info from your rep and not on the internet… In solidarity still.
To JC:
No… that wasn’t me.
By the way JC… I personally think that you share excellent opinions.
We need to get the facts and the information that we need to make our vote heard. We will continue working on what needs to be worked on. That is also what we will be voting on. We continue to have the power to speak up and act… it doesn’t end here, it continues. What we choose to do with that depends on us. Vote either yes or no… but do it with wisdom and conviction. Either way… the only reason that we are even able to vote (in the first place) is because we are union. So… we will vote. I will continue to honor and respect our MNA Reps and the MNA RNs that fought for us… and the fight that was fought to get us to this point.
Sincerly, and (still) in solidarity.
From MNA RN
(and… I still can’t stand SCABS (imported or home grown) or anything that they represent.)
ULP? Beware of scabs trying to divide us. Word is they are posting comments in hopes that we vote this down and strike so they can come in and work again. Stay united. Use the contract language we have and let the charge nurses hold management’s feet to the fire and demand the staffing numbers required for safe staffing.
The flies are thick in this weather!!! Read carefully and carry 2 fly swatters! In solidarity with MNA, still…
To all of you who say we are caving, no, the hospitals were taking much of our benefits and decision making autonomy away originally. We dont lose anything and no, its not about the money, hence the celebration with the 0-1-2. Sorry that you are disappointed that we reached an agreement, go work at a non union hospital if caving is what y0ou call the best possible outcome for all.
We still have a say in our staffing, something they wanted to take away. We still have great health care insurance and we still have jobs. Most of us are quite thrilled with how this turned out, if you are not vete no. If you are not part of our union, I really dont care what you think about our contract, it was never up to you anyway, thank God!!!!
Thank you MNA for getting what was best for all done before we had to strike, and thank you hospitals for finally aknowledging that we are worthy of a fair contract. Now If the hospitals would fire that fool Maureen who believes that we on night shift dont have patient care, dont have to give medications, are not really needed. I think she should have a serious and painful procedure that places her in a place that she needs medication, at night when we are short staffed. Reality sucks for people that live in the clouds.
Finally, thank you all my awesome co workers who stood strong, knew we would have tostrike if it came down to it, willing to sacrifice for the safety of out patients and the protection of our Licenses.
ditto.
Thank you to ALL the MNA members who spent all those hours at the tables fighting for all of us metro wide! It has been an awesome experience being part of this strong, determined stand we ALL took for our profession. I am very proud of what we all accomplished by standing side by side. My daughter is an RN too, and together we made history!
It’s rather disturbing to read how you treat each other! Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but seriously folks….
Dear WOW;
Only the paid persuaders and union busters blogging here are disrespectful, they spew out venom and dissention. The real MNA RNs have learned what you are about and will not be fooled again…take a vacation day already, you must have enough hours in…with utmost respect..Happy Independence Day to you!
At first I was happy and relieved to avert a strike but then I started to think about just what this contract would mean.
Did you see Don Shelby on channel 4 on the 10pm news? He said that the nurses CAVED! How can we say that we did not if we accept this contract? It is just for us. It is not BRAVE and it does not protect our patients. I am ashamed to accept this contract when we rallied around our theme of safe patient care then let it go for personal gain.
Barbara, all this sets the stage for success in the legislature. The public is now aware and every patient and family member will be watching what goes on in the hospital. There is language that staffing wil be discussed in a task force/committe. That in itself is a gain. Success can come with many small steps and we are not done with our patient safety campaign!
Thank you JC.
I am concerned about sending issues to a task force or committee unless they have real decision making power to implement changes.
As you know many of us support our Union but always want to know the HOW and WHY behind
the reccommendations. We should have one more All Nurse Meeting before the vote.
We need to use the momentum we have built to continue with the patient safety campaign.
Do we really win in a settlement that cuts our raise and does not put in written language staff/patient levels?
Hospitals are already pushing the limit with staffing levels. They can now continue to do so AND you can bet more LAY OFFS will be looming in the near future when ‘finances’ demand it.
For the least senior RNs who crossed the line or who bad mouthed MNA and their plight for staffing levels (you know who you are): BEWARE hospitals will likely continue layoffs in the near future beginning with you.
I was surprised and somewhat sad to hear the news that the Twin Cities Nurses settled for yet another committee and not contract language that can be used to keep you from getting burnt out frustrated and deliver safe patient care. I think that Don Shelby said it best on the 10 pm news. Was this really about patient care? I was so proud for these months to wear your buttons shirts and talk to my patients about what you were all standing up for. I know that there was a lot of free-floating anxiety and fear out there, but you really had the power, I was hoping that you would continue to feel it . To the picket crossers, if you weren’t willing to come, there would be no strike. Hospital administrators and mid level managers can not care for patients, and they know that. They would at least have to have a serious discussion regarding staffing issues with the nurses. I am sure that the money was not really the issue, it was the patients that you were worried about. Please stand up with the nurses in your own community. There are plenty of patients there to stand up for. We will stand up for our patients here.
DAS STRIKING NURSE FROM 1984
I feel like we lost a lot of trust today from the public and even among ourselves. For me this was about the only thing I would ever agree to strike for and that was pt. safety. While I agree we made the public aware of some of the safety issues I feel like this is going to make the situation at work worse because families and pt. won’t trust us at all. Been around 31 yrs in this profession and kind of just want to hang my stethoscope up and say UNCLE!!!
Word to MNA reps,
THANKS for all your efforts during this difficult time!
Not a perfect ending but the fight for patient safety and staffing levels will be long and difficult. It will have to be fought on the individual floors and continue to be championed nationally by the NNU.
According to a poll taken by Channel 4 10PM news this evening, over 50% of the public thought the hospitals staffed enough nurses. The public needs to get more involved too and call TCH administration and their government officials to help in this difficult fight for safer patient care. By keeping reasonable benefits for the nurses intact, MNA is trying to keep the present and future supply of RNs from dwindling. That is also a smart move and not greedy.
I am tired of all the whining too. Compromise is not failure. It at times is a smart move rather than destroying all parties involved. Be an adult and go forward from here. Yes, there is work yet to do so pull up your sleeves and get actively involved. Thank You MNA and our negotiating teams. I am so proud of all our Minnesota Nurses; solidarity is a beautful thing.
Duluth, please don’t put us down. I do wish you well. I support you. We are all “family”.
To UffDa:
I agree…
This great responsibility should not rest on the nurses shoulders alone. This should be everyone’s fight.
First I thank God!! For this fight was much bigger than the hospitals or union to handle on their own! Next I thank the negotiation team that gave up thankless hours of negotiations and persisted to fight for our patients…no we did not get staffing language but we will continue to fight for patient safety every day and challenge the situations that are not safe. That will forever be an ongoing battle. Finally, I thank the hospitals for working to come to an agreement. I think we all realize through this that none of us can work without the other’s help. This is a team effort from the very top of management to all those serving at the bedside.
P.S. Duluth nurses – I understand that your staffing issues are probably far worse than any of ours…I will be there to fight your fight as well and I think many of my fellow nurses will as well. We all have the same goal…safe patient care, we will fight along side of you!
Anyone been to the MNA facebook page lately? The NON NURSES behind the flog (“flog”- not blog) nostrikefornurses have apparently been outed via computer forensics. Names, email addresses, etc. are listed. And guess where some of them work?? Check it out under Kara Hanrahan’s post. And I was being “paranoid”…
You have the wrong people posted on facebook regarding the nosrtikefornurses blog. These people had nothing to do with the blog and are now going to seek legal counsel for damages. Watch what you post it better be true.
This MNA campaigne was about the patients…..their safety and our ability to keep them safe and provide the care they need. We are their advocates, we can not let them down now. To the nurses who informationally picketed and then went on to a one day strike, let us hear your voices loud and clear….what’s this about? Patient Care. Goal achieved? Then, please vote “No” on July 6th to this tentative agreement.
Heidi and RN Twin Cities – Just ignore MRA Rn – she’s just way off the wall. One of her first enteries here was total bliss – now she doesn’t know how she can vote for this contract.
To Jake RN:
Which MNA RN were you referring to?
This is the MNA RNs home page… so there’s going to be alot of MNA RNs here. (Duh!)
CEOs took bonuses for themselves and built state of the art lobbies, waterfalls, and gardens–and then tried to do it all on the backs of nurses. So long as they were comfortable, it didn’t matter what happened to us. We nurses have a voice RIGHT NOW at this very moment. Because of us and because the nation is still watching, our patients have a voice RIGHT NOW at this very moment. Now that we are sitting comfortable, does it matter anymore what happens to the patients? Are we going to accept this contract on the backs of our own patients?
Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate EVERYTHING MNA has done for us. Had they not reached this agreement, I’m sure there would’ve been plenty of hell to pay from us nurses had we not been able to vote on it. They have carried us this far but ultimately, the rest of the way is up to us. I VOTE NO, not because I’m naive, but because it’s the right thing to do.
you don’t have your facts straight. Not all CEO’s took bonuses last year in fact ours took a pay cut as well as all of admin. as far as the lobbies go, that is donated money specifically for that reason. You also need to understand what “cash on hand’ means to a hospital and how it functions. the extra cash last year came as a result as a pay cut to all clinicians and admin- 7%! In addition, our pension was cut, our 401K’s not matched but the union nurses were untouched. Realty is we are in a recession. We should be thankful to the people that has given us jobs (ie admin) because there are so many people without jobs right now and can afford proper housing or even fresh vegetables. I would think you have much more backing from the community when we are out of a recession. Right now, most people think you are a little greedy because the back that was injured was mine and not yours.
I am not greedy. I would be happy to take a wage freeze and could care less about the pension since I’m not even vested yet, though I wouldn’t want the older nurses to have theirs taken away. And not all hospital expansions/remodeling are donated and don’t try and make me feel sorry for the CEOs. You’re missing the point. I actually want safer staffing, and not for me because my unit is fine, but for the other understaffed RNs and the patients under their care.
See of course it was about the money. I work in a hospital. I didn’t get a pay raise last year, my pension was cut, and health insurance benefits were cut to higher deductibles and copays. Good you have a small raise, but you didnt get cuts in the other areas. Who do you think will pay for this? The non-contract will have to eat it up with our new insurance in 2011. Someone will pay for you not getting cuts.
To Non-contract:
Oh, Pleeeeeeeeeeesssssssssssssseeeeeeeeeeeeee!
The housekeepers were hugging me yesterday at work…they know our success will help them get a better contract when their’s is due. Really, they almost suffocated me they were so happy!!! Happy Indepence Day!
JC, this is what we nurses’ say to make ourselves feel better about what we have. The SEIU has not done much for their members, as I hear it from our aides. No holiday pay, reductions in sick time, we should be rallying around them and trying to “share the wealth”. These people work just as hard as we do.
Thank you MNA! It seems to me the hospitals were really just seeing how far they could push us. I am thankful to have my contract intact! I am thankful I don’t have to walk out on my patients and strike. I am thankful that we live to fight another day, and continue to make this a great and caring profession to be a part of.
Agree with John.
Nurses from around the United States were following you hoping your massive force of numbers would not only make history but set a precident for staffing levels.
BE SURE THAT your contract still has the succession clause in it. They can be sneaky and while you’re making sure the old benefits and language are there from the old contract they could have “forgotten” the succession clause. They did this in West Virginia with the LPNs and dietary workers and the union did not catch it. When the RNs contract came due in October they forced the nurses out by not renewing the contract and not allowing them to work under the contract so they could negotiate a new one without a succession clause. IF they got both unions to sign contracts without the succession clause they had successfully won the right to bust the union. All the West Virginia “tentative agreements” came without a succession clause and the nurses walked out. There was no reason to discuss any changes to the contract if they were just presenting contracts without the succession clause in it. BEFORE YOU SIGN and call this over…..read VERY CAREFULLY.
Also don’t be surprise if the community and those who supported you will also question your motives the next time you strike and say it’s about patient safety when not one thing about the bedside and the patient environment was changed this time but your pensions were preserved. If the staffing is so integral to the safety who cares if the pension was preserved. They will get your job and pension due to your inability to provide safe care. It will be on your back and they will use you as an escape goat like they’ve been doing everywhere. Your union is the only thing standing between you and your job right now. But if you make a mistake on a patient, even if it’s due to staffing levels, the union can not do anything to help you. The hospital wording and take on your story would be too strong against one nurse and an individual mistake will be grounds for dismissal, if it’s correct. Lets face it any good nurse or doctor has their limits. You can set anyone up for failure. That is exactly what poor staffing levels do. Why do you think nurses are leaving the profession? We are tired of being an escape goat for poor “business” decisions. It is cheaper to work with less than safe staffing levels and expel a nurse than it is to hire what is needed. Don’t think that all these “new nurses” won’t be grabbing to get your vacant job. The ones here are waiting 9months to get one. They’re cheaper, many (not all) are easily swayed not to be part of the union and many (not all) are naive when it comes to what old school nurses have been fighting for….
Ok this fight is far from over. We may settle on current contract with no take aways but that does not mean that we are giving up the fight for safe patient care. All MNA RNS and non MNA RNS need to stay active in the fight for safe patient care. There are things we can do to continue the fight for safe patient care. Talking to your legislators and filing out unstaffing reports. Not just one nurse but all nurses involved in an unsafe staffing situation. I know majority of us are exhausted at the end of our shifts but it is important the unsafe staffing reports are filed. Watch the MNA web site for plans on trips to the Capitol to speak with legislators. I went to Day on the Hill and spoke with my legislators. We all need to stay involved. Peace to all. We have won a small victory in that all the take aways are off the table, now we need to continue the fight for safe effective patient care on a day to day basis with increased involvement. Thank you to all the negotiators and MNA staff.
oops, filing out unsafe staffing reports.
That the hospitals were willing to abandon all the take-backs in exchange for tabling staffing ratios tells me one thing: this issue is crucially important to them. We may not believe the proposed staffing ratios will impose the described financial hardship, put you can bet they do-and if forced to, they will defend that position with the desperation and little regard for fair play (yes, I know that isn’t saying much…) of a cornered animal.
This is only the end of the beginning of the discussion around safe staffing, and we’ll be called on to offer solutions that address the concerns that drove their now-withdrawn recommendations (even if we doubt their basis in reality) AND improves are our capacity to meet our responsibilities to our patients, our profession, and ourselves,
Otherwise, we can expect to be back here again.
To Damon:
Well stated!
And yes, we will probably be back here again. (As long as we remain union we retain the ability to make our voices heard). And, the protected right to endorse it. There are always going to be areas that need to be worked on. And we are able to make a difference.
This is great news and I hope that staffing continues to improve nation wide.
For everyone involved in this please don’t forget our fellow nurses working at HCMC, the county hospital. They are part of the union but since they are county, are unable to strike or fight for better conditions.
Currently on their Renal/Cardiac unit, the nurses take 6 patients at night and up to 5 on days. This is a unit with very sick people. Confusion, lines, tele, tubes and everything. We need to extend our concerns about safe staffing beyond the level of just our own hospitals. This fight is not just about us. It is about nurses nation wide.
I am tired of our MNA reps who sold us out. I hope in 3 years we have a new and younger negotiating team, no offense but they fought for what was important to them; the pension well by the time I am ready to retire it will not exist. I was willing to strike for something that essentially does not affect me – I only care for 1 patient at a time and I have over 40 years left to work so I am not counting on the pension being there for me by the time I retire so the raise was VERY important for me. We had them backed in a corner and the negotiating team just bent over and took it in the ***. I am tired of hearing about staffing issues what a waste of 10 hours on the picket line. WHAT A JOKE MNA IS!!!!!!
“Tired”….get on the negotiating team for the next contract if you are so sure you can do better. Really…and remember YOU are MNA.
I agree with TIRED’s comments and what a different tune the negotiating team is singing in just 24 hours. They did a total 180 degree turn – - – sound like somebody got bought out to me and sold us to the devil making us look like absolute fools parading around in those ridiculous red shirts NEVER AGAIN. For those of you who are going to vote yes to this pathetic contract I hope you are overworked to the bone, maybe you’ll have more of a backbone the next go around. Enjoy your new nothing of a contract.
You tone is that of a union buster…respectfully said..I am still in solidarity with MNA!
JC we, yes there are quite a few of us, are tired of being called names because we don’t follow along with everything the union does and wants us to do. I will say goodbye to all of this now, it truly makes me ill. I hope your not a nurse.
To Heidi Hoo:
AKA/SCAB:
You just keep coming back like a bad dream. You don’t belong on this page when you are nothing but a whiney and self centered human being. You keep having tantrums because you don’t get your way. In this life you do not get everything your way just because you want it that way. You keep making excuses and justifications for your bad behaviour. You aren’t getting any sympathy here. You made your choice to be a SCAB… live with your decision. Go work somewhere… anywhere… go work non union where you will be happier. But stop your incessant whinning. And by the way… JC is one great human being, something that I highly doubt than you will probably be ever be able to achieve… just because of your crappy attitude and: “I deserve everything and more…” mentality. If you so treasure being a SCAB then go to a non union hospital and stop with your attitude and your self rightous opinions. You only want to continue to piss and moan instead of being a part of solutions… you are satisfied with being a pain in the butt and a part of the problem. You should really invest in some Preparation H… it just might help. Because you are such a pain in the butt!
Really, “bought out”? You have got to be kidding. Give the negotiators a break and sign up to be on the next negotiating team in three years. Then you can write about getting “bought out” when you put in endless hours, blood, sweat and tears on behalf of your fellow nurses. The teams were not bought out. Offensive to suggest it.
Dear North Memorial RN,
Eyeball to eyeball, a blink and a wink to you! I have enjoyed your posts! In solidarity with MNA!
I can’t thank MNA enough for finally flexing to get this done, and in a way that we can be proud of…continued addressing of staffing, education for nurses, our pension…HOORAY!!! Thank you all!
I would like to post a question to whoever will respond. The verbage on the last ballot read something like, ” I give the MNA bargaining team the power to negotiate on behalf on the nurses up to and including an open-ended strike.” That is not verbatim. 90% percent of the nurses gave them that power to use as they saw fit, which resulted in reaching an agreement. Obviously an agreement that not everyone liked. Now it seems as though the nurses that gave them that power are upset at the bargaining team. My question is, “Why are nurses angry with the bargaining team for making this decision?” There are no undertones or attacks in my question. I would just like some intelligent responses, as it seems like a valid question.
Nate, it is a valid question. I think people are upset because staffing is something that we are passionate about. However, I think that by avoiding the strike, our reps got the best that they could AT THIS TIME. In the meantime, we have to keep working on safe staffing issues. Call your legislators. Educate your friends. Fill out unsafe staffing forms. Get on the grid review committees at your hospitals. Worthwhile change doesn’t happen in a few days or a few months, but that doesn’t mean we can’t keep working for it.
Nate, I think what some of the MNA members are upset about is that the momentum behind this was primarily for patient safety. If you look back at previous press releases, official MNA statements, etc. on this site, you’ll see that the language emphasizes safe practice issues. If any mention is made of pension and/or wages, it is also tied into improving patient safety. Case in point:
“Thousands of us gathered here today for one simple reason,” said Minnesota Nurses Association President Linda Hamilton, an RN in the Children’s Hospital System. “And that was to cast a collective vote for our patients’ safety and quality of care. This vote wasn’t about us – it was about making sure everyone who walks through the doors of our hospitals has access to the safest and highest-quality nursing care possible.”
So now after the union officials (bargaining team) accepted the settlement, you see that the language has shifted to emphasize that “your pension is intact and your benefits remain untouched.” And, oh yeah, we’ll continue to address the staffing issues through committees. People are questioning, “Wasn’t that what we were trying to accomplish with this call to action?” Guess not. FWIW, that’s my take on it.
I don’t think any of us should be upset with the bargaining team, I think they did what they had to do in the best interest of us all. They set up an agreement and now we vote on it. We the nurses are MNA and if we accept this contract, we the nurses are those who caved. It’s not over yet and nothing is set in stone. For those of us who still think safe staffing is important, we will vote no. For those of us who think what we got is good enough, we played right into TCH’s hands. Nobody seems to understand that we have IMMENSE POWER at this point and the ability to push them all the way. Instead, everyone is rationalizing that we did just enough and we’ll work on safe staffing later. The CEOs are sitting back saying, “See, I told you. Give the nurses their old contract back and make them feel like they gained something. Then they’ll shut up about safe staffing.” We still have so much leverage at this point, don’t give up! Vote no and let’s make a change today, not sometime in the future. It’s not impossible and if we don’t do it now, we will never get the chance again.
Lady RN is absolutely right when she says you STILL have so much leverage at this point. Now it’s not MNA vs. TCH, but MNA members vs. MNA. You represented to the public that your concern was for their safety, yet in the end, it looks like it’s all about the nurses – when you KNOW it’s not. Nurses by nature are caring people, and you STILL care for what is right for your patients. Let your voices be heard and don’t let them down! They’re still aware and watching. Some of you are disappointed and say, “How can we face our patients and still tell them this was all for them?” You sang. You chanted. You wore your red t-shirts that proclaimed patients come first. Now you want to hide behind a rock because you’re embarassed how MNA is now representing you to the public. Who has the power here? And if not now, then when? Again, I say, strike while the iron’s hot! (No pun intented, btw)
Totally agree, Nate. Wise words. We gave them the power and have to believe they worked their tails off in our best interest.
A big congratulations from Belgium, this is a big victory for workers in the health sector and other sectors from all over the world! This is thanks to your strong and good organised protest and pickets! Workers and patients won’t pay for the crisis of the big bankers! Congratulations!
Let me try to understand this: On Weds at the all-nurse meeting we were asked did we want to agree to the safe staffing issue going back to the committees as the hospitals had proposed. We answered with a resounding “NO” and on Thurs
that’s exactly what was done. Apparently our MNA negotiators didn’t think we were serious about safe staffing. Most of us were ready to put EVERYTHING on the line for safe staffing. We would have agreed to no pay increases & several other things just for safe staffing language in our contract. Unsafe staffing reports do not work – I doubt that anyone even looks at them. What we got in return for caving in on this issue is miniscule. The country was watching us & they watched us cave in to big business. Very sad.
We still have a vote but who stands up for us now? Certainly not MNA. Also, I was one of the nurses who went to the legislators – the legislators weren’t bombarded by nurses expressing concern for safe staffing, there were a handful of us & I doubt that they will do anything about it either. The hospitals & their million dollar a year CEO’s win once again.
Nate: I can’t say I’m angry at the negotiators but I am puzzled & concerned because, as I said in my previous message, 24 hrs before they accepted the hospitals proposal, we had loudly said we would not accept the safe staffing issue going back to the committees. They have had these committees for years & they have not done anything. Giving up on safe staffing is huge, it was our entire message. We would have given up on anything else. Instead, we did not get safe staffing & we didn’t get anything in return for that.
Thank you for coming to a settlement agreement. Nurses, please vote yes to accept it. During the past month+ I’ve read and listened to both sides of the story. Indeed, both sides have very real reasons for taking their stands. However, the most glaring unacceptable behavior was that of the nurses who entered comments on this blog and elsewhere demeaning everyone who had an opinion other than theirs–even to those of their own. This is not professional. This is not caring about people. Striking is not caring about people. Again, please vote yes to accept the settlement agreement/contract and put your energies into working with the hospital committees already created specifically for improving patient care. To those who say the committees haven’t ever helped nor made a difference, I say, if pt safety is as important to you as you say, keep trying! To those nurses who resigned from the MNA union–good for you–stay away from them. Unions are mean and nasty. Nurses, to be truly professional and treated like one–you need to act like one. I don’t think there are very many “professionals” who belong to unions–why do you have to? I hope and pray that everyone will come to realize that change can happen more quickly and often when people are sincerely kind and listen–really listen–to each other. God bless all the nurses who vote yes.
Ms JQ public
You have me confused, so much I can agree with except your anti union message…are you paid to be on this blog? Explain unions are mean and nasty…Your tone is condescending…please go home and take a well earned vacation day… Happy 4th with respect…
To JC:
You are good. Are you starting to feel like a fly swatter too? I read this very good article… let me know what you think. Sincerly and still in Solidarity.
And yes, it’s me.
Bill George, Minnesota Voices
Great leaders forge the way to win-win solutions for all parties
Getting to win-win solutions requires consideration of all stakeholders and the future.
http://www.startribune.com/business/97694684.html?elr=KArksUUUoDEy3LGDiO7ai
(hopefully this address is the correct on.)
The next step is to find out how we can becme involved. This is the best we are going to get at this point when it comes to staffing language, and honestly this contract is much better than going on strike for god knows how long. Now is the time to move on, stop whining about it, and get involved! Find out how to get onto a staffing committee and let’s show the hospitals and public that we still really do care about staffing issues! We can still make a difference!
Bravo, Abbott RN, there are ways to get involved and I for one want to start. We may not have achieved our goal, but maybe there are better staffing solutions than strict ratios. Let’s take this time to explore our options and make some changes.
To Abbott Rn:
Interesting article that could possibly offer some insights also: We as nurses need to become stronger advocates for the current and future nursing issues. We need to contiue the strenght and drive that so many nurses have… if this energy and commitment can be focused and relentlessly fought for and channeled. We will succeed in what is our true passion… our patient and the love of what we do and our profession.
But Heidi Ho… you really need to do some serious work on yourself if you ever want to succeed in this life… and being a SCAB is not a virtuous thing. But, you can always change if you want to. Everyone has choices and alternatives to be the kind of person that can be admired and respected not by yourself but by your peers, your family and everyone that will come in contact with you. SCABS lack those most important and highly respected virtues. You need to understand what character and respect is… not only for what you want for yourself but something much bigger and even more important than just you…
http://www.startribune.com/business/97694684.html?elr=KArksUUUoDEy3LGDiO7ai
MNA RN , you shame the profession. Free country. You are entitled to your opinion, as am I. Please stop with the hatred. You help no one.
I’m glad this seems to be over, because as a non-contract hospital employee, my job would’ve been at risk given a long term strike scenario.
I do have one question: Would any of you have ratified an agreement that satisfied your staffing ratio request in lieu of giving up your pension/raises?
… Yeah, I didn’t think so.
wageslave,
I believe that you may be wrong there.
I think that there are many nurses who would have. If you look at a 0,1,2 percent raise it does not even keep pace with the loss of spending power the dollar. That is surely not a greedy raise. But it was never on the table that I know of,so it is just speculation.
Cat Rn, out of curiosity, does it still not cover COLA if we apply the 1.5% annual step bonus? What have the dollar power trends and predictions shown us?
I have to say that initially I was excited about the agreement—UNTIL I READ IT. We gained nothing of what we were looking for in pt safety. We marched and picketed with signs which were all about pt safety. We agreed over financial reasons. Don’t get me wrong, we needed to keep our contract. But I guess I was naieve when I believed that we would stand strong for a fair contract that included language specific to pt safety.
Will there be any meetings before the vote? or are we just supposed to accept this? Most of the nurses I talked to today are very disheartened about this.
I hope I never have to be a patient who might potentially have to be cared for what I hope is a minority of MNA nurses who treat each other like this. You can have strong opinions and disagree with each other without devaluing each other and namecalling.
I feel like we caved…does anyone else?? I only have x2-3 yrs left to work so pension is important but over that is our safe staffing ratios. Did MNA feel we would not beable to maintain the picket line & fear they would loose face with too many crossing if it was a longer strike? I think the hospitals planned this all along as they can afford to maintain the present contract—but did not want the pt ratios. Now they set us up to think we have won but have we really won? Or was the long list of takebacks just used to get us mad enough to eventually accept this contract as long as we dropped the ratios aspect & the raises??? thinkabout it—I feel MNA nurses were set up–what do you all think? I will vote NO to accepting the contract.
What the heck is going on? MNA will huff and puff and……………go away.
Good luck with those “committees” and your staffing issues…we all know how effective those “committees are.
There is a natural amount of let-down when a body is all geared up to throw a punch and the target disappears, don’t you think?
I don’t see this as a ‘sell-out’ but pretty much as a compromise. Yes, I believe TCH asked for take backs so they could give them back… isn’t that what MNA did with the raise? That’s normal. What surprised me is how many take-backs TCH asked for on top of the pension and insurance. Did they really think we’d agree?
No, I don’t think they did. But I also don’t think they expected the outcry from us that they got.
We didn’t lose anything in the contract or pension. TCH didn’t gain anything in take-backs. What we did gain, however, was a voice and an awareness! We are maintaining nursing as a profession.
We need to be careful now in talking to co-workers and neighbors… tell them that we made progress on the staffing issue, that we maintained a voice within the hospitals so that patient care isn’t dictated by a business administrator but rather those by the bedside; tell them that agreeing to no take backs wasn’t about the money but our power to be a voice, a patient advocate vs. hospital peon! Tell them we didn’t want to leave the bedside for the amount of time hashing out staffing ratios will take, that TCH talking to us about is what what we need.
Personally, I’d like to see some teeth to the staffing language, some way to hold the TCH accountable to actually working on it.
Think with your brains, not emotions. No one wins, for crying out loud. It’s not about that. We didn’t lose anything, and we gained a voice! Be careful now what we do with it.
Thank you Linda for your post…negtiations are about compromise and what is good for the whole group(MNA) In solidarity!
I have a couple of individual comments to:
Ms JQ Public – just because you listened & read about what we’re going thru doesn’t mean you understand it. Walk a mile in our shoes…………
You are very condescending, is that better than arguments & disagreements? I do agree with you on the name calling, not professional.
One more thing, if you think Unions are mean & nasty, you haven’t seen anything – hospitals are far meaner & nastier then you can imagine. If you, as Ms JQ Public think they are concerned about you, you’re sadly mistaken. They are only interested in your bank account. Unions aren’t perfect but I’ve worked in a non-union hospital & they are FAR worse then union hospitals. For example: mandatory overtime – if you don’t stay when mandated you will be fired.
Also, you have to take as many pts as they assign, the only thing that stops them from giving you more pts is that they run out of beds.
Hospital wageslave: I guess you weren’t listening to us. We said over & over again that we would give up our wages & several other items if we had safe staffing language in our contract.
CR: Yes, many of us feel exactly as you do. We will be voting NO & I pray others have the courage to do so.
IT ISN’T OVER TIL THE FAT LADY SINGS!
I think we can still work for safe staffing over the next three years by documenting and blogging every incident where management ignores the current language and forces the charge RN to take an admit. And for all the staff RNs to document their horrible shifts online.
This is the first time we have had national union backing for staffing issues with the new union and I think that’s what bothers the hospitals most.
Let’s expose them. The fight isn’t over.
I would also like to see more attention paid to the unsafe conditions for nurses, lack of lifting equipment and staff to help. Poor ergonomics in patient rooms, over loaded IV poles that topple. Crowding patients in old crappy double rooms because it’s cheaper than opening a new floor of single patient rooms. Which also shows a lack of respect for patient privacy. And also lack support for confronting abusive patients.
Let’s have 3 years of tracking the big management raises and bonuses. Why don’t they want to reinvest in their staff. Are they really not for profit? Are they abiding by those guidelines?
economic reality won out
Please look at what we can do and that is vote no ! Send them back to the bargaining table with the message we are not settling ! Safe staffing is important !
MNA RN and other uninformed nurses, I would suggest you study health care financing. What MNA proposed is unsustainable in the current economic climate, with the cuts in Medicare (500 billion) that passed to support Obama’s heath care policy, and with the growing number of baby boomers entering their retirement years. Study the economics before you start working on legislative efforts. Nursing for far too long has approached these issues from an emotional viewpoint rather than from an educated view which considers the economic costs, benefits, and sustainability of the effort. All of us currently support both public and private health care systems through taxes and premiums, the costs of both are headed straight up – how much are you willing to pay to support the staffing you proposed? The public is asking the same question. Consider all the facts before you proceed. I have watched this union effort for weeks and I am constantly amazed at the lack of understanding of health care economics and the impact your staffing proposals would have on sustaining a safe health care system. Consider instead asking for more paraprofessionals and learn to really collaborate and delegate to this very valuable partner in providing safe and affordable care.
To
MNA RN underlined:
Imposter, Paid persuader, pretender from union busting 101, take a vacation day alreday!
NURSES REJECT NEAR-PERFECT CONTRACT, CONTINUE TO PUSH FOR SAFE STAFFING
NOT ABOUT THE MONEY, NURSES FIGHT FOR THEIR PATIENTS
NURSES VICTORIOUS, WIN A FAIR CONTRACT
Dreaming of headlines that could be….
What more can I do? I am just one nurse with one vote. The support of my peers is waning and we are back-tracking on something that was so important to us just days ago.
Yes, we can continue the fight in committees and in the legislature but the opportunity to use our strong-arm is only days away. Have you ever sacraficed something for someone else or for a greater cause? I haven’t. Now I have a chance to make a difference, we all do. I want to be part of something that is good for ALL people. Our open window is quickly closing.
p.s. obviously many nurses want to vote yes but please beware–there are still TCH minions posing and posting on this site, ask yourself, “why?” We are still a force to be reckoned with and they don’t want those of us who still care about safe staffing to over-turn a contract they consider to be a safe bet.
What does NNU think of our settlement? Has anyone read or heard from them? I’m curious.
Sometimes not losing anything IS winning. Nurses have been fighting for the “safe staffing ratio” for YEARS. Any you will continue to fight for safe staffing. It will not happen overnight, or with one contract negotiation. In the right TIME and place, it will happen. Stay the course!!! Keep your head held high and keep moving forward!!!
Shame on those nurses who spoke out against the MNA nurses willing to sacrifice for their beliefs. If you don’t like what MNA nurses are doing, go to a non MNA hospital and see how it feels to work for an “at will” employer! Good job to those MNA nurses who stuck together.
The non-union hospitals gave their RN’s a 3% raise….Go figure
O.K., let’s go figure. Some of those non-union hospitals gave their nurses zero for a raise last year. Most do not have a defined benefit plan to which the nurse does not have to contribute. Most of them give out fewer paid days off and you have no sick leave; you use vacation instead. They can and do send nurses home at will and require unscheduled doubles. They have little or no seniority protection or longevity bonus. I could go on and on. But yes, by all means, go figure.
I don’t get it. I watched you say in a press conference, “this is not about the money”. Well it sure seems like it is now. You protected your pension and got a 0,1,2. No staffing requirements? Why on earth would you agree to that? You have 84% of the union’s vote backing you saying they want safe staffing or nothing at all. This seems like there is either an agenda or we are all missing something here. Someone please explain what is going on.
What a shame. Do you think in 3 yrs we will have support from the public? We were strong, we stuck to together, we had people to back us. In 3 years the public will look at us and say we never meant any of it. Shame on everybody who accepts this. This was suppose to be our time to stand up for what is right. We gained nothing and we are going to lose all of our support. The public will look at us as the boy who cried wolf if we have to do this again. I will vote no. I find it hard to believe all that work was for nothing. It will be unsafe next week and the week after and the week after that and we will need to find time to do more paper work to back that up. This is not a good outcome
The public will think of us as a bunch of dumb nurses so we may have as well taken a raise because we will be criticized anyway
Thank you MNA!! I for one do not think we caved. TCH threw out every rotten union breaking trick in their arsenal and we stood firm. Do I personally believe in fixed rations-NO. Personally I want to see some sort of ACUITY based tool in place. Ideally, this tool would not only take medical complexity in account, but also incont., confusion, and psychosoicial issues. On another note does anyone else see the irony that MNA offered to leave the contract “as is” prior to opening negotiations and the hospitals said NO!!! Instead they spent millions and destroyed what little trust there was between those of us on the front line of pt care and those in support (ie. management) roles. It will be interesting to see if our fearless leaders own up to their short sightedness, or give themselves a raise and a pat on the back. I know which way im leaning
For those that think we ‘lost’ and are blaming MNA for ‘caving’, you must not have read the TCH’s contract proposal. They scratched our staffing language; I refer to this as the “we will decide” language. They wanted to decide where I would work, when I would work. Remember, “A nurses is a nurse is a nurse.” They scratched the ability for the charge nurse to close a unit if staffing became unsafe–if a unit could not take another admit. Do we have that short of a memory? We did win safe staffing. We got our contract staffing language back! What we didn’t win was ‘staffing ratios’. Were you complainers at the capital with me this past legislative session when MNA and SOME of its members asked our elected officials for ratio laws? Our elected officials told us to try with the employers first–so we tried and now we go back to our elected officials, we make trips to the capital to lobby and we continue our fight! We don’t sit back and bitch that we don’t get to go on strike! Not one nurse will miss a house payment, no one will be forced to decide to cross a picket line, no one will go without health insurance should a strike go longer than a month. Dang it, we avoided a strike and got our staffing language back. Now it is up to US to continue to file the unsafe staffing forms, to step up to the plate and show up at the capital. Yep, YOU actually have to do something about it other than bitch and whine about MNA. Do you not get it??? So much easier to complain than to actually do something about it.
AMEN Betsy! I cannot believe the criticism the negotiators are taking without anyone having had the opportunity to speak with them and ask questions, etc. They will be available to do so prior to the vote. Once you’ve heard their rationale, etc. then you can vote the way you want. I was ready to strike if need be, but if the team members who were at the table felt this was the best contract available this time around, then I will respect that. If I don’t agree with their decision once I learn more on Tuesday, then I can vote No. I agree the staffing fight is FAR from over. It will not go away just because of this setback… NO WAY.
I am waiting to talk to my reps to find out the details that are not in the blogs or facebook.
My thanks to the negotiating team for your hard work.
I was on the side of the nursing staff. Keyword being was. The nurses based the strike on patient safety and then they are ready to settle w/ staffing ratios not being a key point??!! But instead the selling point is raises and their retirement? The media was right to paint the portrait of greed on the nurses part. I am disgusted. Shame on whoever votes in favor of the contract.
It’s true…..MNA did do a wonderful job getting the hospitals to not take away everything management wanted to take away. However….they stood in front of the camera and said they wanted safe staffing and they would strike if they didn’t get it. They have 84% of the union body supporting them in this fight. Now is the time. It isn’t time to take what you can get. The union body told you what they want. It’s not up to the higher ups in the MNA to decide differently. Whatever happens, happens, but I hope the union bodies stand up for what they believe in, since MNA didn’t.
Well said, Betsy. I am very happy with the settlement. Mind you, yes, I was going to strike but now I no longer am no matter what the vote is because all things considered, we are in a good place . I intend to fight for safe staffing in other ways, not by standing on the picket line anymore while my financial and emotional health deteriorate. I can better help the patients and the community if I myself am strong. Benefits DO matter; many of us are not well off and have to live accordingly. Anyone who does not think the PENSION is a HUGE BENEFIT, is poorly informed and should go to the next MNA PENSION WORKSHOP. Thank You MNA and the negotiating team. You should be very proud of all your hard work and what you accomplished. God Bless each and everyone of you.
Shocking…..MNA stated since March this was all about patient ratios. Now they are endorsing a contract without ratios, substandand pay raises and the hospitals coming out ahead. I hope the nurses think really hard about this vote. A no vote would make this ratio issue a REAL issue, not just talk. I don’t understand how MNA went before the press..stated how unsafe staffing was and the patients are at risk…but they endorse a contract that does not even address a solution…..SHOCKING.
Let’s be honest. This was never about patient safety, it was always about the money!
No comments(that I scanned through) about the folks who will have the ULP actions withdrawn on their behalf re: no return to work after 6-10. They now have no recourse? And they may use their personal vac to cover lost days? What were they out of work for? 3% over 3 yrs? Someone pass me the Kool Aid, I apparently need a sip.
To Jean:
You apparently haven’t talked to an MNA RN Rep!
Now was the time, but the time has expired. Never again will it be that close. Haven’t you heard of playing chicken? This is all so pathetic I am sorry. I am tired of being played. Nurses now look like fools.
To RN TWIN CITIES:
No…
the nurses don’t look like fools…
You make yourself look like a fool.
I agree with Betsy. The work doesn’t end for improved patient care. We continue to make in-roads on many different levels. Everyone who feels so strongly on this issue that they want to reject what our negotiators have decided is acceptable need to remain involved in- and outside the workplace. There is ‘more than one way to skin a cat’. The more pressure that is brought to bear will have the best chance of success in improving staffing, saving patients, decreasing errors, retaining staff and improving our already great public relations cache. We’re nurses. We don’t give up.
Mischelle -Unity
HELP!!! My patients are under the bus and I can’t get up!!
This decision has been more difficult then the prior two votes, but I have come to my decision and will stick by it. It is unlikely to be popular either way we vote.
Whatever we do we need to remember what this has been about, SAFE PATIENT CARE. We need to join together, use the voice that has been preserved, serve on committees, talk within political arenas, utilize all avenues. Be assertive, even aggresive in our efforts to improve patient care.
I see the celebrations and note that the memory of ‘why we do this’ is already fading. It will be in the distant past in a month, as we go on with our busy lives. Please, stand up now!
Betsy, we didn’t win safe staffing The er never closes and that is one of the most unsafe places to work. Yes there is divert but the waiting room is still full of pts that wait 5-6 hours, at times, to be seen. So no the er nurses did not win safe staffing.
thank you to those nurses who came to the plate to care for our patients, so we could have our one day strike.
no matter how smoothly it was said to have gone without us on the job, the hospitals did realize what 12,000 nurses strong meant.
thank you to the nurses who stood strong and sent letters to mna, when it became obvious they were using us as political pons to promote legislature, and not planning to negotiate a contract for us. turning down the most recent contract that was offered end of june made that clear. mna was reminded they work for us.
safe ratios are still being addressed, it was not an issue forgotten.
those promoting legislation do not have the right to put nurses on the sidewalks, without work. mna, with nnu at their side, went too far.
may we help one another to heal from this ordeal. afterall, love and compassion is what we do best.
lori RN.
Dear Lori,
I hope and pray you can heal, but you made the decisions that only you can live with(and your special friend Jake) The TCH acted in acute anti- magnet status on this contract negotiation and the CEOs will need to do more than write flowery e-mails to staff. On June 11th we were greeted with an “open arms welcome back to work” with security gaurds holding us hostage for 2 hours! Scabs, if homegrown or flown in only prolong negotiations…so now Lori and Jake, will you be part of the solution or part of the problem? We’ll be watching, all of MNA and the public of MN, maybe the only pawns were you?
To lori:
If you’re a SCAB… your’re a SCAB.
Now you just sound like a sorry SCAB.
If you’re looking for sympathy… go somewhere else. Go cry on you SCAB friend’s shoulders.
So who’s kool-aid are we drinking this time?
To AM I a RM?????
I don’t care who (or what) you are… Why don’t you just take the kool-aid pitcher and pour it over your head and that way you won’t have to worry about drinking it.
Hi, I’m an RN at a nonunion TC hospital. I have a few items I’d like to toss out for discussion. I’m curious why the hospitals took all their concessions off the table and essentially renewed the previous contract (except for the 0-1-2 raises). Also, because the hospitals have little motivation to do staffing by acuity, how will we bring about acuity staffing. It seems as if this needs to be a ongoing grassroots effort rather than a labor issue or a legislative issue. I also think we need to find out what would motivate hospitals to change. Whatever happened to the idea of billing for nursing care rather than rolling it into a room fee as if it’s overhead rather than a valuable service?
I understand those who are disappointed. However, if you step back and look at the whole picture for a moment, you will realize what a victory this is for Minnesota nurses. The lay offs last year were a psychological pre-negotiation tactic, the economy is horrible, as is unemployment. The hospitals were very clear, that they viewed THIS particular contract as their one chance to break the union. In 2013, the nursing shortage will be beginning to peak, to them it was now or never. They gave it everything they got. Yet our contract stands intact. All of it. Our union remains strong and has become even more fortified and strong. Having been a nurse for a long time, I never really believed the hospitals would agree to ratios. I thought that after a 3 week strike, we would end up with bits of contract, and still no ratios. This is a win for us in so many ways. The entire country and even across the globe, are now aware of staffing effects on safety. They can’t ignore it anymore. This awareness won’t disappear with ratifying our contract, it will continue. Patients will demand it. Patient safety has become an issue that will not go away, and we have not sacrificed our contract to achieve that. Not only is the public more aware, but many previously placid nurses have become advocates, and more assertive, militant and politically savy. They have opened Pandoras box. To me, this is an enormous victory.
Beatrix K:
What’s with the all or nothing philosophy that some people have?
Life is about compromises and negotiations, meeting halfway. I do not ever remember getting “everything that I wanted” and in some instances that was a good thing (although it didn’t quite seem like such a great thing at the time). Sometimes I had to work even more dilegently and remain commited to my goals in order to get something that I truly believed in and wanted. Things happen for a reason that we may not be aware of until later. There is no instant gratification. I am glad that my parents instilled that into me at a young age. Because it made me resilliant and built character and gave me wisdom to carry with me at all times along the way. It made me a survivor and a fighter in many lessons that I had to learn the hard way. I learned that I was not always right and that “my way was not always the right way or the only way”. It taught me that some things are just going to be bigger than me. There were times that I had felt like I had lost it all, I learned what was really important and that I had actually gained. My parents and some of the wonderful people that helped raised me showed me how to grow up and taught me lessons that were priceless… also taught me to never give up. So… I will take this as “only the beginning of what can be accomplished and achieved. It is not an end… it is a beginning. Those that remain committed to their goals will achieve them. I refuse to whine and sit in a corner and pout. There is work to do. There is a vote to decide. And I know that which ever way the door swings… I will continue to appreciate the right that I have to be able to vote in the first place. I will contine to appreciate and honor all the MNA RNs and Reps that fought this battle and brought us to this point of voting. And to them I will contiue to say Thank You. Talk to your Reps to get the information that you need to make an intelligent decision. And then vote… either way… there will be lessons to be learned from it. That’s life.
Unfortuately, the staffing ratios are being discredited because there was no change with the current contract.
They knew what was more important to the nurses…pension and jobs. They leaked to the media way up front. They smelled the fear. So when they offered at the 13th hour, with a holiday weekend coming up and exhaustion weighing on the MNA they played their cards well.
Believe me the hospitals will use this against nurses everywhere in the future. Three years is a long time to have patients and all of you wait for change to your care environment.
You all have the power when you stand together.
Already the press, patients, nurses from around the United States read exactly what happened. The perception (whether it’s real or not) is that when the nurses saw security for themselves, they forgot about the rally to change the environment and forgot about the patients.
So what was the main issue? It seems that we did 180 degree turn around from how committees have been unsuccessful and now we’re ok working to change it from committees. Hippocritical? If I see it and I’m one of the nurses that believe in nurses and I have doubts to the motives…. than what do you think the public and patients think?
Yes, you have a right to preserve your jobs and benefits. We have been doing that for years. When do we have a responsibility to protect the patient or to the younger nurses securing their power in their work place and protection of their care environment…their jobs?
I am afraid that your patient safety point is lost behind the “greed of the nurses for pay and pension”. Not my words…Media’s.
Think about it………they’ll keep it tied up in committes for YEARS. They have! They will work on blaming one nurse by one nurse for the “incidents” that happen due to poor staffing ratios until there are no more in the union left at that facility. Then the environment will be so toxic that those who are left will be afraid to speak or unit. That’s why breaking a union is so important to business. Divided we fall, they know this. The environment can weed us out. If it’s toxic enough we will fall one by one. When we unionize and pull back from that toxic environment we have the strength and numbers to make changes.
Negotiating a non-succession clause contract is the fastest way to break a union. BUT a slower way is to make the environment so unconducive to safety and so toxic, nurses that “KNOW” either leave or are eliminated and are replaced with nurses that are craving jobs so much they don’t care in the beginning or are so new they don’t know it’s not suppose to be that way.
There are very few “old school” nurses left in the environment and one of the reason is not only that they are too expensive for the business model but they also know too much of how to do it different. Their knowledge is dangerous. It is unfortunate that businesses percieve experience this way because experience can make everyone’s job easier and more cost effective. But if nurses could have such an impact on patient care and hospitals why would you need so many “business people” in it? How would you make profits off of practices that shorted the front line in favor of top line?
I recently worked at one hospital for 4 1/2 years. I had developed acuity grids, committees, statistics the whole nine yards. I did so much on my own time and I wasn’t even in charge of this unit. I got no compensation for my “extra”. I just cared. I never presented a problem without a cost effective or easily implemented solution. I had been in management myself. I knew how to speak the language. I spent my own time, my own money to pursued safer and cost effective changes for patient care and our working environment.
I also had a “nurse” manager that threw away notes on the nurses commending their care and in place put write ups on nurses. These were the same nurses that was keeping his department afloat without complaint! The same nurses that were working over their FTEs and during their lunch breaks to make up for the inadequate staffing. He wrote everyone up so he had “leverage” on every single nurse there.
To make a long story short, when I exhausted all my resources as to trying to help him create a better and safer environment (mind you I’m not management here but a believer in being part of solutions rather than problems, I was just a “lowly” staff nurse with a lot of passion for the patients and believed in going through the channels). I went to human resources. This was the last effort to find a way to get the “issues” to the upper management. I explained I wasn’t there to get anyone in trouble. I was there to offer solutions that were “do-able” and “free”. I believed so much in the “system”. I thought the reason why no one was doing anything was because the issues were being watered down before they got to the powers that made changes. I believed that the “system” cared about the front line (nurse, patients, techs, secretarys, lab techs, doctors, housekeeping etc). I believed they cared like when I started 26 years ago.
AND….this is what the human resource person said “you seem to be very knowledgeable and passionate about this. Your ideas are level-headed. So, I am going to tell you this but you did not hear it from me. If you pursue the grievance process you will have a black mark on your record”. At first I did not understand. For those of you who don’t know about black balling, this is what she meant. I suddenly realized that the grievance process was not there because they wanted to know what was going on or willing to change anything.
I said “Oh, so they have the grievance process because they are required to not because they really want to know how they can do it better”.
She smiled and told me “I told you, you were smart”. I smiled and thanked her and resigned. I told her she set me free. I had been busting my mind, booty and spirit up against a brick wall for 4 1/2 years. I realized that this was why I didn’t have support from the hospital. I wasn’t willing to let them have my job or my license. I worked too hard. The environment was getting very unsafe. And dispite my “committees”, my getting the best of the best for hospitals for my unit the last 3 quarters in a row (with less and less staff, less equipment, more “issues”) it was going to end up with me defending my license with all the “lies” that were being told. See I was a minority being in the Peds ER eventhough I did committees and stats for the Main and Peds. When I left the 2 main ER nurses that transfered to the Peds left after 6 months. I later saw them at a wedding and they apologized to me for not understanding why I was so passionate about the care and changes all those years. The confirmed they left due to safety issues but did not think they had the spirit and persistence I did. They did not understand if they had supported me, if a me became a we than we were a force to be dealt with…
I was, one of the last, of 60 nurses that left the ER that year. Twenty tech/secretaries left, also. Do you know what they said? “Oh, they found a job that worked better for their childcare” “they needed different hours for their family” “they were going back to school” “it was closer to their home” “we had issues with them”. Any excuse except the one that all of us left for…the environment, it was not safe. Did us leaving one by one make a difference? No they turned it around.
One night we had 4 nurses to work a 32 bed, level 2 ER. One triage nurse to work a 2 nurse and 2 tech bay. Myself worked the 5 bed level 2 Peds ER. Yes….cerebral head bleeds, abd bleeds, codes etc. One charge nurse and one LPN to work the rest of the 28 beds.
Did they call in nurses? No…we worked it and closed down sections. God how nurses endure and are so creative. Thank God!
Did our manager come in? No!
Did the administration do anything when we lost over 80 employees in a year to that ER? No!
In fact, due to the magic of the pen that hospital got magnet status. Now, how do you get magnet status when you have 80 of 120 employees leave a unit? And… a preventable suicide of a patient on the psych unit. Oh, and by the way, a nurse took the brunt of that suicide incident. It was a process issue not the nurse. It also was a staffing issue!
How do you get magnet status when our new nurses were being taken off orientation within 2 weeks to “staff” but it wasn’t changed on the schedule they were counted as staff. I could go on and on. Has it changed? (This was fall 2007). What do you think?
No…..I’ve gone back to visit in between travel assignments.
A doctor in another section of the ER said “We miss you, you were an institution, it has not only gotten worse in your section but in ours. (I was in the Pediatric part so you can understand my passion for safety for the kids. He was in the main ER)
Many of the old school nurses will tell you stories of the difficulty in one nurse changing anything via the “normal channels”.
I wish we were a profession that united for our work environment and our patients as well as our deserving benefits. I wish we were a profession that saw how some nurses do have to stay and work under less staffing than even before a strike, just to keep the home fires burning. No one wants to have to do the hard work or go without but sometimes it’s necessary.
We do need to unite. I use to think we as nurses could do that professionally without unions.
Fifteen years ago, I saw what Yale New Haven Hospital went through without a union.
Too many nurses get in management and forget about what they wanted to help change. Again, they are one up against a whole management system. A management etiquette. A management culture. The ones that do try to fight for their staff are eliminated or eliminate themselves because they fight until they are exhausted and are single out. Other management nurses can be afraid to lose their jobs so they adopt “yes” man attitudes. They worked hard to get to that level and you learn fast not to rock the boat. I was in management, a long time ago. I was able to make changes because I had a director and a medical director that felt the same as I did and yes, it was different then, when healthcare was about health and caring. Today it’s very rare anyone sticks out their neck. Understandably.
Again……..you all had it right. Patient safety is worth the fight. It’s worth organizing and worth the sacrifices. We will all be and our families will all be patients some day and in some way. All I can do without a union here is to support those nurses, whereever, they are in their attempts.
I hear you all in that you have to conceed something but why the patient care in lieu of the pensions. Isn’t that what the “system” is already doing? Conceeding pt care in lieu of fountains, pictures, top heavy bureaucracy etc. By conceeding patient safety it shows in actions that you too value pensions before patient safety.
Actions speak louder than words and the world just discounted your words about patient safety.
The hospital unfortunately put it out there from the start it was about your pensions and you worked so hard to let others know it wasn’t. This contract won your jobs back. But…. like I’ve heard others say and what I do now…..we will go back to 13-14 hr shifts …documenting after the shift ends. Because good nurses do that. They take care of the patient first. We will go back to not taking our lunches and not noting we didn’t get a lunch (I for one note when I don’t get one). We will go back to not getting a pee break and the increase UTIs .
WE will go back to the struggle of not having enough time for all those incidentals that happen outside a perfect shift, with perfect patients and perfect behavior/actions by all ancillary departments.
It’s physics. There are only so many minutes in a shift. Look how they are spent and look at what you have left over. Your plate runneth over and you will be held accountable that you did not finish everything on your plate no matter how physically impossible it was to do in the alloted time, with the alloted staff or with unexpected issues that arised. We are talking about HUMAN BEINGS! Doesn’t that in itself necessitate importance of time and resources?
There is nothing like the human touch, the human eye and the human mind when it comes to giving HUMANS healthcare.
It’s not an easy task guys but we’ve allowed it to go on for so many years. With the super unions forming I was hoping we’d start making a difference about the deterioration of the healthcare environment. Soon it will all be in insurance companies control. After all they pay the bills if everyone is required to have it.
We have an opportunity, now. Doesn’t the safety of all those people who have to use the healthcare system in the next 3 years deserve this….Believe me if you turn down a contract about your job security and wages so you can strike for patient safety. You will be more credible, stronger and called the hospitals on their bluff. Also, you will be standing behind the doctor that went out of his way to voice for you all and your quest for patient safety.And all the others that stuck out their next….the patients that responded with stories about patient safety.
We can continue our fight for staffing in many other venues. For those that are “ruffled” and want to vote “no”, are you willing to be in one of the few hospitals that may go out on an extended long strike? because I am certain that many of the hospitals will have the contract ratified! I think some of you just aren’t up to the work that will be involved in fighting for staffing through the “other venues”. Walking the picket line may have been the easy way for you to have obtained it. Pull up your sleeves and get very personally involved in the other ways as we move forward.
I ask our reps and MNA staff to restructure the voting meeting. In most previous votings, there were specified times for presentations, we came and listened first and only then received a ballot. Q&A and comments were after a presentation and were optional. It took time and it was a lot of work, but I believe it helped up to be on the same page even if we did not agree with each other. It is a good process and I am sorry it was dropped in favor of instant messaging and everybody being in a hurry. I think this contract was a remarkable achievement by our negotiators and I support and thank you. I am grieved by the dropping of ULP’s and of course staffing. The only way I can deal with it is to hear the story and learn the process and the facts. Our negotiators deserve to tell their story rather than just have pot shots taken at them. We really need to hear from you in an organized way, not just in a comment or question to you. I think this would go a long way toward bringing some of the really angry people on board. Please let’s not do the hospital’s will and destroy ourselves and our union fighting each other. Please let’s all think about where we would be today if we had no union for the last 40 years.
This is another chance to divide the nurses. It is very sad that we aren’t strong enough to stand together like we did last week for what we feel is right for the pts. Will it take 3 years? In the mean time there will be more harm to pts and to nurses. Unsafe staffing forms will not undo what has already happened. So we spend 3 years filling them out, at whose expense?
Do not deny the power of the nostrikefornurses blog. MNA was losing members and there were hundreds planning to work. That must have been the force that caused MNA to ‘cave’. Nothing else could explain the dramatic change in their message.
To LRL, AKA Linda:
The only “cave” is the one that you crawled out of.
Lori S. was outed as a supervisor/manager/minion…
and you keep coming back even though we know your name as Linda.
There really are way too many Trolls in this world and you are one too many. And the “Flog – not Blog” that you refer to wasn’t even put out out by an RN… it was pooped out by a paid Union Buster at one of the hospitals, a forensic search even listed his name, email etc. Bought and paid for to spread dissent. It’s only purpose was to recruit the frightened RNs and spread lies. Well they succeeded in getting some of them to resign the union (not many if you look at the actual count) and the SCABS made their intentions and lack of commitment to their co workers known. Now they have to live with that choice. There are those that remember SCABS that were SCABS from 10-20 years ago. It is something that does not die quickly or easily. As I’m sure you won’t either.
Sure wish you would identify yourself. Are you afraid to? My posts have been blocked from this site – that is why I tried different names. You have been misled about the nostrikefornurses blog but I won’t spend anytime trying to convince you otherwise. You clearly are still filled with hatred and are posting abuse and disrespect to anyone who does believe as you do. VERY SAD. Sure not a good representation for the profession of nursing.
meant to say does not believe as you do.
To LRL: AKA Linda:
Bye ..bye… “turdy”…
Gonna flush the toilet now…
Round and round it goes…
Lana: The nurses did not settle with staffing ratios not being a key point, the bargaining team settled. The day before they settled, at our all-nurse meeting, we told them LOUDLY that we would NOT settle for going back to committees.
The next day that’s exactly what they did. We were as surprised as anyone when the news came out of a settlement & what the settlement involved. Hopefully the vote will show this.
What is the deal with the vote. If we vote NO we have to have 66 per cent to win but if they vote yes they only have to have 51 per cent? Does this sound unfair to anyone else? Can anyone explain why?
You have to have two-thirds plus one to authorize a strike, not to ratify a contract
If anyone thinks safe staffing will be addressed in committees, they are sadly mistaken. All those unsafe staffing reports will end up where they’ve been thrown in the past, the trash can.
Why are nurses not allowed to be on the committees?
If any of you think the pension was saved you are also living in a dream world. The abolishment of the pension was just postponed.
TCH will again attempt to abolish it in 3 years & they will eventually win. Fortunately, I won’t be here in 3 years but all of you younger nurses will be without a pension in the end.
Show TCH how strong you are and vote NO.
To Lori ~
Very well stated, Lori!!!!!!!!! Thank you.
Why do so many nurses have an inferiority complex or poor self-image or whatever? Do you not feel worthy of the benefits such as a good insurance plan and the pension? We are PROFESSIONALS by every meaning of the word and paid plenty for our education. If some of you feel the need to work for next to nothing as Angels of Mercy, perhaps you could VOLUNTEER your services in some community nonprofit agency or world relief organization. I’m not greedy by any stretch of imagination but benefits are important to me, and I shouldn’t have to apologize for that. Every time the contract comes around it seems as though we are happy to give up pay raises in order to get something else! I’m all for better staffing but not if we are having to give our shirts off our backs. For those from other hospitals and states and the public and whoever else think we caved in, I have a question. What are you willing to give up for better staffing ratios? I am not aware that MNA has had large donations of money pouring from all of YOU to help the cause. Show what you are made of!
S3RN and Betsy have it right. We have to continue to work for our staffing, but maintaining current staffing language in the contract IS a victory. Whether through legislation or system tools such as the ones used at Children’s for acuity, we need to work to keep our pt’s safe and let the public know “We Care for You!”.
Barb, You don’t knw how pensions work , obviously. Any pension amount you have built up will never be lost after you are vested even if the Pension is some day changed or abolished. You will still get it and you will appreciate it when you are older and need it. This Pension is one of the few in the nation that is giving you a guaranteed amount for your lifetime regardless of how the stock market does; that is why the hospital would love to eliminate it. If stocks perform poorly, the hospitals have to put more money in. SWEET.
You are living in a fantasy world if you think this doesn’t make us look like complete fools. We have lost any credibility that we had. Now we are supposed to be good little nurses and vote yes for this crap and then be happy that the hospital shit on us. Right now the hospital CEOs are at their cabins laughing their asses off about what chumps we are.
We are not chumps..we are champions for bringing this to the public’s attention…the public has no idea what we do…now they will be watching and asking questions…most of the public does know that day care has ratios and those kids get sent home if they are sick…in the future we will be reimbursed for good outcomes that are evidence based.
Our choice was unsafe staffing and a crappy contract , OR unsafe staffing and our current contract. The hospitals in no way, shape or form would ever agree to ratios. We are talking about a system that has shrunk even the bedside kleenex we give our patients to a tiny packet with 6 tissues in it! This is a system that won’t send an extra dinner tray for late admissions. Did anyone ever really believe we would get extra nurses?! The entire healthcare system is broken, and our little labor dispute would not ever change that. The CEO’s, the media, the public, are all aware of the safety situation, we made it clear. They can no longer claim ignorance. Now it’s up to them.
To our MNA bargaining team at the Allina table,
Thankyou for all you did during the contract campaign. We appreciate your efforts to keep us informed and keep us involved. Keeping our Unit Closure Language and our concentrated floating when Management was determined to take them away is a win for patient safety.
This contract will encourage people to choose nursing as a career. Unlike the hospital’s May 19th proposals which were so unsafe and unreasonable, even I wondered if I would stay with nursing if it was implemented.
Cynics will claim that our campaign was not about patient care. But, we know in our hearts how hard the bargaining team and staff RN’s tried to get that ratio language. Nurses wrote letters, attended bargaining, addressed the TCH bargaining group with personal examples of our staffing concerns, talked to friends and neighbors, picketed and even went on strike. And we know some ouf our colleagues paid an extemely high price for 6/10/10. So don’t tell me it wasn’t about patient care. Unfortunately, the time for ratios has not come yet. That doesn’t mean we did not fight the good fight.
Now we staff RN’s need to continue to be vigilant at the bedside for our patients and support on going efforts to ensure safe staffing on every shift. It may not always be easy. But we are Nurses and we do difficult things with grace everyday.
Proud to be one of you !
Sincerely,
JMK
Funny how to “patients before profits” slogan was used and advertised leading up to this settlement agreement. Why didn’t MNA just come out and say “don’t touch our pension and give us our raise” and we’ll be happy. The truth of the matter is the “drama” was all about money!! We will see the same drama in three years, ending the same way.
Way to stand up for patient care. You all bailed. Now we here ” it is a process” and we got 2/3 of what we wanted. Next time print “show us the money” on your T-Shirts!!
And to see post calling other RN’s scabs!!!! Yeah, you guys really want someone to take care of patients.. (Hint..Hint…as long as it is you and you are paid well!!) Wondering what would have happened to RN’s that have intelligence to think for themselves and crossed over during your strike…Maybe you should egg their cars or deflate their tires. No one should cross the MNA…..standing up for patient rights.
Give us a break…hospitals don’t want patient care to suffer any more than good RN’s do. Work together…Spare us the drama!!!
Concerned: Too bad, you didn’t get your way. (I can smell management a mile away, at this point) You wanted a trashed contract, and to pocket the spoils. But you didn’t get enough SCABS to make it work. All that blathering about teamwork, hows that working out for you? Your version of teamwork is for nurses to do all the work. All that posturing about the lines of thousands clammoring to take our places. Well, where were they? Not exactly knocking down your doors. Lord knows you guys couldn’t fill in again. Imagine the disaster of June 6th multiplied by 30. Truth is honey, you need us. You can hate that fact, spit and fume about it, but the fact remains. You need us, more than we need you. Get over it.
Exactly my point…..you need us more than we need you……sounds like patient care is where you are coming from???
IF the issue is compensation, then just be honest and we need to be paid fairly for difficult job we do!! I could support that, but to sell it as TCHs are evil and patients are in danger? How can u accept a contract that virtually not change?
Concerned: Staffing ratios were NEVER going to happen. So our choice is : crappy staffing and a crappy contract, or crappy staffing and a very decent contract. We are not masochists. If we are going to be stuck in horrid, stressful, impossible working conditions, then darn right, we WILL be compensated. Remember (waaay back) when Ralph Nader fought to get seat belts put in every car? The automakers did not start that, the auto workers on the assembly line did not start that, it was the CONSUMERS. Seat belts have saved more lives than nursing ratios ever would have, but it was not until the PUBLIC demanded it, that things changed.
Not all of us folded. Some of us will still put our money where our mouth is, though at this point, it won’t do much. I’m not mad at my other RNs, everybody sees things the way they want to see them and the hospitals played a good game with plenty of fear tactics. Just because I’ll vote differently than most doesn’t mean I’m against the union and I certainly don’t want it divided. Maybe the negotiating team had to recommend this proposal as an all or nothing deal like they did last time, maybe not. It doesn’t matter. I’ll continue to fight for safe staffing right now and in the future because I love my profession and I love my other RNs, no matter how the vote turns out.
For those of you who seem to think our negotiating team and those who may vote yes on this contract are “caving in” or being “bought out” or other epithets, I would like you to consider that they weren’t negotiating with themselves. They were up against, as St. Paul describes it the principalities and the powers. Our team did well against huge odds. We do not look like greedy fools as some have opined. We demonstrated our passion for patient safety and that message will not be lost. We aren’t going to win it as we envisioned it, but we will be back to fight another day if we hold together and support each other instead of attacking each other. If we were to attempt a strike at this point, trust me, the public would never support us. We would probably come through with a gutted contract and little or nothing that management could not get around regarding ratios, staffing, etc. I doubt the public would support us. Please don’t do the union busting that management wants by attacking each other.
Thank you Janet for this post,
We are not safe from the union busting tactics of TCH and Tom Horner until we have a ratifying vote…All need to read blogs with a very discerning eye and get your info directly from a rep or bargaining team member, our elected peers. Solidarity is standing shoulder to shoulder together as MNA, the member driven organization of union nurses! Happy 4th to all of MNA!
I bet hospital CEOs/CFOs, & lawyers have had a field day with their creative people instilling doubt and division among us on nostrikefornurses blog, along with on other sites. I recommend that all RNs visit: union1.org – Union Busting 101 . This isn’t over yet gang! The hospitals seem incredibly sure of themselves that this is a done deal in the letters that they sent out to everyone e-mail just before they left for their confident holiday weekend at the lake. We still need to stick to- gether, along with our barganing teams. They have worked so very hard at this! They probably had to AGREE TO RECOMMEND IT. It doesn’t mean that they all AGREE WITH IT, after getting some rest and having a few days to think about it.
Use your critical thinking skills. Read the nonverbals, Use the great intuition that we have as nurses to keep pts safe . Let’s stay united! The hospitals are counting on us NOT!!!
Dear Concerned,
You seem to contradict yourself in your post.
First you scold us for not striking and then you praise nurses who “think for themselves and cross the picket line”.
You sure seem to be trying to stir the pot for someone who doesn’t like drama.
Dear Jeanne.
Haven’t you worked on this blog long enough to get vacation day? With respect, Happy 4th…maybe you need to GET A UNION JOB!
Your words are so venomous I know you are not an MNA member! Union busters begone!!! Wish I knew more about exorcism….Standing stong in solidarity, still
My apologies to Jeanne, I meant to address that last post to Concerned (you know that one with the forked tongue) Jeanne your posts have been great and have my support…Hope your h0liday was safe and happy! See ya all at the Tuesday vote!
To Jeanne:
If you cross ANYONE’S picket line… it’s just plain wrong. Those lines and the people that are walking them are there for a reason. You just don’t seem to be able to wrap your brain around that concept. Maybe if you educate yourself about it maybe the picture will become clear. Talk to a MNA Rep. I’m sure that they would be more than willing to explain it to you.
But, I’m sure that’s not the response that you were looking for. Become educated and informed? Ouch, that just may hurt, just may be too much work or effort on your part to put into all this.
You would rather spew your nonsense.
Jeanne,
Actually….I never scolded you for not striking. If the main object of the contract is over “patient care” then why would MNA accept a contract the does not change a thing regarding patient care.
Would MNA accept a contract if pensions are gone and wages are frozen, but mandatory staffing ratios are in place? I highly doubt it. That is what this was about right?
I cant say it loud enough. THANK YOU MNA!! I will continue the fight for my patients and my peers within the current system. No longer will easy smiles and glossy slide shows be enough to keep me from asking hard questions of my senior leadership. I would love to say an apology for the needless games and stress those executives created for everyone will be forthcoming, but im afraid if I hold my breath waiting for it, I might suffer from hypoxia…
First of all, Thank you to all of the bargaining team members, MNA staff, and reps for your endless hours in what seems like an impossible situation! The challenges continue,but you have brought us together, young,experienced,and very seasoned RNs alike. TCH keeps strengthening that bond through these past months in a “variety of ways.” Our job now is to give this all serious consideration and vote for our patients and our future on 7/6. Something feels very troubling here though. I am really wondering how we will ever get time away from our patients, with someone left to care for them, while we discuss safe staffing issues, when we hardly can get to breaks now, even to the potty for that matter? I know, indwelling catheters and protein bars for all! If there was respect for nursing input from the CEOs, that would allow nursing to budget for time to make it even happen. WOW! Something to think about as you vote, to again take safe staffing issues back to existing contract committees.
READ today’s (Sun., July 4) article in the Minneapolis Tribune (1st page of the Money and Busineess section (D1); it is written by Bill George “Replacing Conflict with Collaboration”. It gives a reference to our contract battle.To me it reconfirms that our negotiating team is WISE and MATURE. They dug out of the mindset and hole of the win-lose posturing and took the win-win approach . We MNA members and the public should be PROUD! I sure am.
Here’s that link:
http://www.startribune.com/business/97694684.html?elr=KArksUUUoDEy3LGDi07aiU
Another good article:
Hospitals must disclose nurse staffing levels – Crain’s New York Business
http://www.crainsnewyork.com
Gov. David Paterson signed into law a bill, bitterly opposed by medical centers, that will force the city’s hospitals to disclose their nurse staffing ratios
This huge responsibility and heavy load should not and can not be shouldered and rest upon the nurses backs alone… This IS NOT our battle alone. The responsibility and undertaking needs to be addressed by more than just the nursing profession. The advocacy and mission to improve health care needs and structuring needs to be championed by many.
(Not just the nurses.)
I worked the PM shift last night & had 8 extremely ill patients & 1 nursing assistant.
Unsafe Staffing is alive & well. In addition, I am exhausted & considering leaving nursing. What a win!
To RN 36 years – After the biased & unfair press we got from the Trib. I (and many others) cancelled my subscription & will never read that rag again. Did you know………A person on the Tribs board of directors is also on the board at Abbott? No wonder they couldn’t be fair. Same situation at Channel 11 – that channel no longer exists for me. Thank you to Esme Murphy at Channel 4 for her unbiased reporting of the strike/negotiations situation.
I agree that FRONT LINE nurses need to be consulted more and LISTENED to on how to create a quality environment in this economy.
This not something new. Isn’t that one reason for a union because the aren’t listening and consulting the bedside nurses? We’re being drowned out in committees, scattered voices diluted by time and daily business.
Also, poor medicare/medicade and insurance reimbursement is not new to this business. It has been practice of “business” to throw a lot of fluff and language at a situation about win-win when the guts of an issue is still on the backs of the front line. Their walk doesn’t match their talk.
A promise to review the staffing levels in committees is not a win for patients or the healthcare environment. There was a tie for the nurses in not losing their jobs or benefits, maintaining the language of the old contract. While the contract is the same as 3 years ago, the environment is not. To pretend that it is and throw the same action on it is not a win for the patients or nurses working today, in the present.
I applaude the hard work and efforts of the reps but there was no win just a maintain and delay. That delay may be more costly and have higher losses in patients and nurses than many realize.
Yes, look for a win win. But we need a win-win-win. Don’t leave out the pateint or the work environment. Or you’ve lost your pension and patients.
Another point that Mr. George made was “Nurses should be treated as professionals who are given opportunities to take on greater levels of responsibility in the new health care environment. Using nurses more effectively is vital to raising health care quality at reduced cost. It is well-known how much patients value their relationships with their nurses”
Nurses are resourceful and creative. We exhausted our brains with out of the box thinking everyday to take care of patients in this environment. We somehow do the seemingly impossible, while haunted by “what did I miss” “gosh that patient needed more of my time, my understanding, my patience”. Guess what? On paper we’re doing it so they don’t see the problem. I use to tell my staff that if they couldn’t work extra than don’t. They gave me their committment of hours. Unless they were willing to work extra all the time they were only bandaiding a problem. The gap in staffing allowed me to “SHOW” other administrators the problem. Otherwise, on paper things were covered. Yes, I would work with them, I know unheard of now a days that a manager would work bedside along side the problems. I would work short. It took working short and showing the reality. I was invested in showing the reality and chronic problem rather than exhausting my nurses with extra shifts to cover. They earned their time off. If they wanted the extra time and pay that was one thing but one day they would need a break. Then what….and have you ever worked with someone that is over worked? (smile) Yea…….I know “everyday” right? All of us.
The deal is, is that the administrator see that the patients are getting taken care of so what is the big deal?. The big deal is ….at what cost? To the nurses and other staff? To the patient’s care? It (the problem) is diluted out in all a day’s work. Eventhough it’s upfront and center to the bedside nurse…….it’s distanced from the administrative halls until a patient issue comes up, after the fact.
It’s not about using us more effectively. It’s about getting more nurses to that bedside. And yes, patients do value that nurse at their bedside more than anything else you could do to help them heal and create that healing and safe environment. A machine can’t replace a shoulder to cry on, an ear to vent to, a hand to hold.
Again, Mr George is looking at this from a business only perspective. Not a human perspective.
What do you tell the nurse with 8 very ill patients and one tech. That she’s not utilizing her time effectively enough?
Enough is Enough. Time is finite and one nurse has a plateful to try and complete in a hurry and not make a mistake and not miss a thing.
When the pressure is on to complete all that, guess what gives……..well, I’ve seen many a nurse get upset with the patient as being “too needy”, “not that much of an emergency”, “not in that much pain”, “drama king/queen”, “where is his/her family”, “oh, he has an anxiety problem”.
So we start looking to the patient to lighten our load, not want, not need, not ask, not be “such a pill”. OR worse……….we miss things, we make mistakes.
I had a charge nurse tell me recently. A good day isn’t one that you get everything done but when a patient doesn’t die on your shift.
WHAT?
But you know the way it is now……..is that our concession? Is that what we do to deal with the staffing issues?
Ok, so have you ever been on the other side of the equation. I have and it nearly killed me. It was lonely and isolated. Very little information, little contact with my busy nurse. Then you got the impression that if you did ask “too much” you would be “labelled”. But heck…….the patients aren’t a 100%. We are suppose to be. What if we aren’t because we’ve got more than we can possible handle and handle well. I’m not saying perfectly but well.
I tell my patients to bug me. I tell them that is their job to bug me. I explain that in this environment it’s too easy for me to be pulled away by another patients needs, the doctor, pharmacy that didn’t stock all of a patient’s meds, phone calls from various sources, procedures that take group efforts etc. I tell them I am here to meet their needs and want to but when I get derailed by some other request their “bugging” get me back on track to getting that pain shot they wanted when the patient in 223-2 pulled out his foley. OR…it allows me to ask if someone can help with their needs in my place. I worry that there will be one that keeps silent because they are more concern with the “busy” environment and trying to be a “good” patient, they end up the silent good dead patient.
I became a nurse to be able to be at the bedside and give “care” when any of us are vunerable due to illness or injury. That care isn’t just a machine pumping and beeping. It’s my eyes, ears, hand and voice. My time with a patient.
I agree with a win-win but not in the same way Mr. George is talking. He doesn’t understand the humanness of the environment. His perspective is strickly from a bargaining perspective.
Ahhh… the challenges in bringing back the humanization of the system. Business acts like it’s an assembly line and basically it shows in how we “process” patients.
We’ll have to put our heads together to find a better win-win-win. But I know we can do it.
As far as someone not having faith in that the public will be supportive of your strike. (as was said by another nurse in these posts) Even Mr. George knows “how much patients value their relationships with their nurses”. We are the patients voice more than any other.
Lets give them more of that relationship with better staffing rather than the mechanical, sterile relationship they are getting with just the machines around them. It was business idea to replace many tasks with machines.
The machines in many aspects can help but they also can be higher maintenance and less reliable than God’s greatest “machine” the human brain. Also, machines can’t give that healing touch.
I’m not against machines but lets balance it with what truly will bring a lot of nurses back to the bedside and what patients want….. humans at their side in their time of need. And a healthier, safer environment for all. That requires doing something about the staffing issues now.
RN 36 years – Don’t be so condescending. I do know how pensions work & maybe you should have paid more attention to what I was saying.
Yes, you will have a pension, you’ve been an RN for 36 years. My point is that there will be no pensions or no worthwhile pensions for nurses in the future. This won’t end, there will be the same fight in 3 years. Thankfully, I will be retired.
I was a nurse who came out to help cover the June 10th strike. Call me what you want- I agree with a prior writer that we are not here to take your jobs. I have a full time job. We only came to help cover the need while you fought for your rights. Not treating patients is not liking walking off an assembly line. Ford won’t make money if cars aren’t moving but humans are not the same and require care. Not treating someone to “prove a point” is not the answer. Although patients were receiving care by strangers your statement was heard loud and clear.
I’ve read through the tenative agreement on the union’s website and I don’t see any information about staffing ratios or increased budget to staffing; the initial reason for the strike. I hope your leaders are representing you all well and your needs and requirements are met. I commend your efforts and hope you the best.
If the situation arises where there are more needs in the future I will return to help and see what the healthcare system is MN is like, how the people are, and the interaction between hospitals and unions. It was an interesting experience and we will see what happens.
Good luck.
UT Nurse….do you not get the fact that when people like you arrive to step into our shoes that you only prolong the strike? You all act so self-righteous about what you did. Admit you did it for unreasonably insane money. And with ratios of 1:3 on shifts when we take 1:6. Get over yourself, and don’t worry about our contract language. We can see right through it. Be a traveler but don’t cross picket lines. Simple as that.
North RN,
No, the replacement nurses do not prolong the strike. I am sick of nurses with that thought. If not for replacement nurses we would not be ALLOWED to strike-period! They allow us to fight for what we want. Not saying they are great, but our fight is with the hospitals, not the replacement nurses. And of course they did it for the money, why else would someone disrupt their life like that? You can’t be expected to walk into a hospital you don’t know, in a state you don’t know and make minimun nursing wage. It is shameful to try and say the hospitals should not be allowed to have any nurses to care for the pts. Maybe you don’t realize how hard our job is!
Dear JC and MNA RN,
I did not say that those who cross the picket line “think for themselves” that is what “Concerned” said. I was trying to point out that in his/her post the statement made no sense, especially with what else they had posted. Perhaps I didn’t say it clearly enough for you. But Concerned seemed to understand when she/he wrote a reply. It’s called discussing. You must not have been at the Cat Team meeting where they encouraged us to try to bring people into the fold by discussing the issues. You have a lot of good information for people, but your go for the jugular vein first approach does not help the causes of MNA. I will not get into a debate with you about who is the MNA-est. Because it’s obvious you think you are. But I was at every rally, meeting, picket and helped with whatever the stewards asked for help with. So congratulations, you are the kings of the blog hill. You can cut everybody down. I have a feeling the comment section of your gradeschool report card used to say “does not play well with others.” I’m sure you’ll have a scathing reply . But, don’t write it for me. Write it for yourself because I’ll not be returning to read it.
I apologize again to Jeanne, the responding post from me was meant for Concerned (who speaks with forked tongue) And my report card said “will not tolerate bullies” With respect and in solidarity!
Seems like a bunch of union BS.
Talk of patient care? Unsafe staffing levels?
It really is just money. In this economy, your union shows its a joke and using patient care as a tool to get what you want. What a ploy.
Personally, I think, all your pay should be reduced.
You are a big part of the problem. You strike while patents and (insurance companies) pay $380 for a visit to emergency. They sit there for 3 to 4 hours before they are cared for. Patients pay $18 for an aspirin. All the while, they are treated like cattle when they are waiting.
And strike nurses- you people are doing a service for HIGH PAY. Take off a week and make a months pay or more. Don’t make it sound like you really care for patients in Minnesota. What you care for is getting a fat check at the end of the week.
All of you, the nurses and the strike nurses- get off your high horse- the public is not stupid.
Funniest darned thing. You aren’t willing to attach your name to your post or own your opinion. I presume many of these postings are trolls by management stooges trying to stir discontent. I am disgusted with TCH’s sabotage. MNA is a large tent. Diversity of opinion is welcome. Comments such as yours are not. Please leave.
To Sick Citizen:
You need to seek out professional help…
To sick citizen and all others who call nurses “greedy”; where is your outrage towards the private insurance carriers, the endless and very expensive levels of “administration”? Is it wrong to fight for a living wage AND my patients? we are college educated making life and death decisions on a daily basis and you say we are over paid. Ironically, nobody bats an eye at the over compensation paid to upper level management…Instead u tell us that’s BUSINESS AS USUAL in the corporate world and if you don’t like it “go into administration”. Is that really the world you want? Were the million dollar smile of the snakeoil salesman with an online master degree in business makes outragous sums of money off the misery of your loved ones and the backs of his/her employees?
I am a 30yr + at ANW. I have not yet decided my feelings of the “settlement” In a way, I feel like we gave in, except in letting us “keep” our current contract, I still have the ability to “say no” to an increased assignment, can “close” the unit and can push for an “extra nurse” if my unit acuity is high. The public does not know this so they are unaware that we do have some language to support our staffing, yes we want more, we need to work on that.
>> I do have questions about the “settlement”.
while I could NOT strike purely on money or wage, I want to know what does the comment “excluding educational increments” mean in yr 2 and 3???
>> why did we agree to pull our ULP charges? was that a condition of “keeping the contract?” What does the comment “with prejudice” mean??
I have heard rumors flying around ANW today that the reason we settled is there was pressure and a mandate to the MNA team by someone in a government position. that this information is to be kept quiet. Is this true??
I am a nurse from HCMC and we very recently joined MNA. We are not allowed to strike, by law. So when our contract comes due next year, we do not have the option to strike, which of course puts us in a much less powerful position than you nurses from these 14 hospitals are in right now! Right now you have the CHOICE to vote no and continue the fight for SAFE STAFFING~ remember that your actions do not only effect the conditions in these 14 hospitals but will ultimately effect many other institutions. The results from this contract vote will most certainly have a huge impact on how things go for HCMC in one year.
To give up now on this fight for SAFE STAFFING is giving up way too soon considering the momentum that we have at this time. We may never be this unified and this strong again. If you vote yes, you will always wonder…. what would have happened if we voted no and really took it the distance to FORCE the TCH to their KNEES. Just look at how much they capitulated in the final days before the strike! This shows how much power we really have collectively. Consider how much more they will capitulate in the hours before a strike or a few days or weeks into a strike. We can do this people! We are very strong collectively~~~ Let’s continue this fight!!!
That’s very easy for you to say…while we would sit out on strike for weeks or months without pay or medical care potentially returning to a mass layoff, you would still be collecting your paycheck while reaping the benefits of our sacrifice.
Sometimes it isn’t that easy.
Sick Citizen you said it yourself: You are a
SICK CITIZEN.
Also to Sicko:
(I think you are in serious need of a professional psychiatric consultation or if you have already had one… please, go back on your meds…)
This huge responsibility and heavy load should not and can not be shouldered and rest upon the nurses backs alone… This IS NOT our battle alone. The responsibility and undertaking needs to be addressed by more than just the nursing profession. The advocacy and mission to improve health care needs and structuring needs to be championed by many.
(Not just the nurses.)
http://www.startribune.com/business/97694684.html?elr=KArksUUUoDEy3LGDi07aiU
Another good article:
Hospitals must disclose nurse staffing levels – Crain’s New York Business
http://www.crainsnewyork.com
Gov. David Paterson signed into law a bill, bitterly opposed by medical centers, that will force the city’s hospitals to disclose their nurse staffing ratios
Awhile ago I was a pt in a St. Paul hosp. I was on the floor for about half an hour and needed something so put on my call light. I waited 10 mins and no came or answered so my daughter went to the nurses station – 2 nurses were doing absolutely NOTHING. They told my daughter my nurse was busy and she would be with me in a little while. This was about an hour after having an angiogram. You’re over staffed and UNcaring as it is
Did your daughter actually ask them if they were nurses or did she assume? Not eveyone at a nurses station is a nurse – most likely they were unit secretaries.
To Sick Citizen–
Apparently you have little knowledge or empathy for what nurses do 24/7. Try doing it, and then criticize nurses later. You could be one of the patients who is on the tough end of the short-staffing. That would be your loss/life.
can management please quit sending nasty blogs now? geeze…….
Let this be a lesson in preparedness. Start saving slow maybe but sure for the next contract so your personal financial situation won’t hold you back if a strike vote occurs in 2013.
I DID NOT SEE A SUCCESSION CLAUSE
IN THIS TENTATIVE AGREEMENT
AS RN 26 years from JULY 2
was talking about.
Interesting read ….
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/jul2010/minn-j05.shtml
NettieNMMCRN: I think this is what you mean. Good point. The Succession Clause in current NMMC contract is on page 107.
63. SUCCESSORS OR ASSIGNS.
I assume it means if North is taken over by a conglomerate, the contract still stands. Be sure it’s in the new one. Good thought.
Guess what? As of today we still have our same contract and we will continue to work under that contract even IF tomorrow we vote NO. Have all of you forgotten that? Those take-backs were not part of an alternative contract, they were potential threats. If we don’t accept this proposal that doesn’t mean we instantly have to go with the hospital’s idea of what a contract should be. They cannot take what we won’t let them take. You all didn’t have to go and jump in the “yes” boat at the first sign of positive movement in negotiations. Could it be that TCH told MNA to recommend this contract as part of the deal because they wanted to call our bluff? Why go with the mentality of doing more later when when could do SO MUCH right now? We will never be able to fight for safe staffing at this level again. Should we ever breathe a word of safe staffing to the public 3 years from now, they will say we are crying wolf. Do the right thing for our patients. Do the right thing for those severely understaffed RNs across the nation. Do the right thing for the future of our profession. Please, I beg you fellow nurses, do the right thing.
I was at a meeting today for ANW, your comment is not exactly correct from what I understand today. So let me share what I learned.
1. the contract will be ratified by 50% +1 Yes vote.
2. The contract must be rejected by 66.7% to authorize a strike.
3. No votes totaling between 50-66% will leave us in limbo: no contract, no strike. We may risk having the original proposal put into effect.
I am very conflicted about what is the right think to do.
Jean is correct Lady RN about the voting scenarios. I went to an ANW MNA info meeting today too. I believe the take backs were very real and TCH intended to get as many of them as possible- such is the way union contract negotiations have been going in this country as of late. Trust me when I say, not giving up all that language and having TCH take it back, chew it up and choke on it all was HUGE. There’s too much other info from the meeting to cover here, but you need to ask questions and get the correct info tomorrow prior to voting- the scenario you play out in your posting is not accurate. There will be MNA reps doing presentations and answering questions 1:1 also. PLEASE EVERYONE- talk to the MNA team and get the real info and answers you seek. It is a complex situation. You might not like what you hear, but you need to understand all of the nuances before you cast your votes!
What part of my comment is not correct? If we are in limbo, as you say it, maybe we don’t instantly strike but don’t we at least go back to the negotiating tables like we did before after all the other votes? Don’t we still work under our old contract until a new one is ratified? How is this vote different than the first time we voted when we ultimately rejected that contract proposal? As far as I’m concerned, we still have a choice. We still have an opportunity for further negotiations. TCH is not going to put their original proposal into effect because none of us will stand for that except for those who crossed. You don’t move forward without taking some risk and we were all willing to do that a week ago. A week ago, we were all singing the same tune.
First THIS is not a place for SCABS!!! Second I did not picket in a thunderstorm in the dark of the NIGHT in the F@#$&*( RAIN ,TO GIVE IN NOW!!! I am votingNO NO NO ! The hospitals spent ~1MILLION FOR 24HRS ,THEY CAN AFFORD THAT, THEY CAN AFFORD US!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Really, WE MNA are worth every penney, IF NOT. Spend some of that profit and not give the son of Bitc@#$ in administration their raises or GOD forbid BOUNUSES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THIS PISSES ME OFF!!
MNA-RN: Your langauge alone leads me to believe you are here to cause dissention. Real RNs speak more eloquently when disscussing issues they are passionate about. Yes, Real MNA RN, the flies are thick today!
I was walking the line in 84 too, but I think the nurses today are much braver and stronger than we were in 1984. RNs you just stood eye ball to eye ball with the health care corporations and they blinked. In 1984 we just had little hospitals like Abbott Northwestern, Mt Sinai or MMC to deal with.Today we fought the corporations. That is how we have to start thinking we don’t have hospitals anymore we have corporations. The thing about corporations is they don’t care about their employees or the patients . They only care about their bottom line. Don’t think they wouldn’t outsource your jobs if they could (oops they already tried that with the scabs). These are corporations much like BP. What we just experienced was a little bit of this war on the middle class and it’s going to get worse. Yes we will be back here at this point in 3 or 6 years because this contract has the potential to affect their bottom line.
“Tired-RN” you are right it’s time for the younger nurses to get envolved. Stick with MNA it’s the only thing nurses have working for them. It’s the only way we can stand up to the corporations. I encourage you to ratify this contract and then begin organizing. Go to MNA meetings, become a rep. and talk to younger nurses. Tell them to tuck a little money away. even if it’s only 15 to 20 bucks a pay period. (You see we heard that younger nurses felt that they couldn’t afford to strike).
We will be back at this point in the future and ” TIRED – RN” I expect to see you leading this labor struggle.
To Phill-RN and Beatrix:
Your comments made my heart swell! The nurse of the future will need astute bedside skills, technology skill, political polish and business savy, with the union being only the first step in organization for meeting the goal of safe care. New York(sept 09) passed reporting on nurse ratios be part of public information(hospitals fought it like crazy)…maybe a good next step for us…In ’84 the hospitals were run primarily by religious groups, not the CEOS of today who aquired them with buyouts…they have money to fill political pockets as well, so let’s get ready…Stay in solidarity and prepare for Part 2 of the safe patient care story. I Support MNA all the way!!! they have never lied to me or bashed me…always had my back in the long run or big picture…PERIOD.
I’m working on preview story on tomorrow’s vote for fox 9 news at 10 pm. If there is anyone interested in talking please email me. erik.runge@foxtv.com. Thank you
HEY!!! WAKE-UP!!! So many of you are talking like this is over. The vote is not until 7-6.
The negotiating team just brought the choice to us, they have not decided the outcome, we need to do that. I trust in our team that they are trying to get us the best presentation of the contract to decide on. The votes have not been counted because they have not been placed. If the ‘Yes’ voters are the majority we will band together in many ways and fight for SAFE PATIENT CARE. The fight will run deeper and be much more difficult, the first battle -not letting any of us forget!!! If the ‘No’ voters are the majority we are fighting the battle up front, not dragging it on and on and on and on . We are MNA, we all must dig deep and do the right thing! There are many fears either way we go.
If there there are 50 people in the water after a boat sinking, and the rescue helicopter needs to decide whom to save first, who will it be?
Those huddled in groups of 2-10 or the one person broken off from the group floating alone?
There is a reason why those alone are, and need to be, rescued first. Fear, no matter how great, is more bearable when we have the support of others, even when that fear may be equally or greater for those we are with.
Be professional, be responsible,
VOTE ON JULY 6!!
Phill-RN you said it so well. “RNs you just stood eye ball to eye ball with the health care corporations and they blinked.”
I hope the average rank and file MNA RN realizes what she/he just did. Don’t any of you dare to feel embarrassed or let down! All of you are courageous heros, and history will be kind. This is the beginning of a nationwide movement. It is bigger than Minnesota, bigger than our individual labor contract. It is only going to spread and grow. Do you nurses realize what we were up against….and WON? These people have been planning for years to break our union. THIS was the year to do it, before the predicted massive nursing shortage peaks in 5 years. They researched and hired professionals with expertise in “union avoidance” a more palatable term than “union buster”, but that is what they are. They hired expensive and politically well connected PR firms like Himle-Horner with a staff of 20, whose ONLY function was to break the union, and to disparage RN’s. They bought expensive radio ads and full page print ads, proclaiming your greed and unreasonableness to the entire metro. Yet, in spite of all this, your contract remains, full, complete and intact. This is unheard of in this day. This is a remarkable feat. Few ever really believed the hospitals would accept ratios, what we have accomplished is even more valuable. Public awareness. However you decide to vote tomorrow, be proud of what you have done. As PhillRN said, you looked a huge, wealthy corporate entity in the eye, and they blinked.
I agree Beatrix and Phill-RN. I’ve been educating myself through these past months regarding contract negotiations in general and have learned quite a bit. Very early on I thought all the concessions TCH put out there were just “smoke and mirrors” and they didn’t really intend to yank all that language out of our contract. I’m now convinced they did. They meant every word of it. They meant to get as many of those take aways as possible. That is the way contract negotiations have been going for many unions in this country- concessions, concessions, concessions. TCH wanted to take away all our language which equalled all our power to the point where our new contract book would have a front cover and a back cover and nothing in between. We stood strong, showed solidarity, and a resolve to the point that TCH pulled them all off the table. While it might not seem like it- after all, we earned all that language through past negotiations, didn’t we?- in fact, what we did was HUGE. That stiff walk they have now is from those concessions we told them to shove. They meant to break us and what they did was awake a sleeping giant. Did we get everything we wanted in this proposed contract? No- no one ever does. We will win this fight for patient safety. The fight might “look” different than we initially imagined, but we will fight and they will rue the day they went after us to try and break us.
MNA rocks! Thanks, Beatrix for explaining why. I will vote in solidarity for the huge future wins in patient care that MNA has made a possibility. Let’s now put our tremendous energy into educating the public. I got my hair cut and the hairdresser said “What was that all about? You just gave it up?” I answered that even daycares have ratios but it really belongs in the state legislature. She could relate to that, has friends who do day care, etc. and said “I never thought of it that way before…of course sick people should have some kind of protection” Go out and educate people in your world. Imagine whole beauty shops spreading the news…Yikes, that might even scare TCH and Tom Horner!!! A groundswelling of the public!!!
Winston Churchill said it best. “This is not the end, this is not even the beginning of the end, but this is the end of the beginning.”
Let’s be proud of what has been accomplished so far and now let’s get out there and help the nurses in Duluth get their first contract.
Amen! Let’s not forget the support from the nurses in Duluth who drove down in buses to support us in our informational pickets and one day strike!!
Even more deafening than the silence of the MD’s, is that of “nursing leadership”. I don’t mean the MNA leadership, our union has been outstanding. I mean NURSING. Those who never leave the ivory towers of academia and come to a patient care unit unless they need staff nurses to help them gather research for their doctorates. Sure, there have been a few nursing leaders, the ones whose staffing studies we have been using. But what about the rest of them? The truth is, we don’t have any nursing leaders. Those who SHOULD be on the frontline of the fight for safe care are too busy creating usless worthless time consuming assessment “tools”. Where are you, nursing “leaders”? You don’t exist, you are all cowardly spinless phonies, and have abandoned real nurses and real nursing. From now on, just call yourselves “healthcare academics” or “healthcare delivery theorists” or some such crap, don’t even dare call yourselves nurses. The battle is nearly over, you can come out of hiding now.
i found out today that all those nurse managers, etc got a 3% pay raise!
MNA-RN – I have not always agreed with you but I am with you on this one. We fought hard & believed in what we were fighting for & it comes down to this – I’m pissed off also. Hopefully, the vote will show how you & I & many others feel about what has transpired.
To JC regarding MNA-RN’s message: Obviously, you don’t recognize real passion, it isn’t always eloquent & pretty.
I love it when ‘they’ blink. Thanks, Phill-I was there in ’84, too. I’m glad we’ve learned some new things in the intervening years. Make big new plans, MNA nurses. The country’s health care depends on you/us.
Allina RN–thank you for your insight and it has helped me to truly look at both sides but in the end, no one can predict the future. I have so much respect for the MNA negotiators and I can only imagine how difficult it was for them to come to this decision. I know they did not make it lightly. I truly commend them for all that they did! I do know that some things are always more complex than we’d like to admit. So, we were up against something bigger than us–something that had more money, intimidation, and political advantages on their side. Perhaps my scenario would have never played out, maybe that’s just me clinging to hope. I can accept that. However, through much thought and many prayers, I can’t find peace with the “yes” vote and that’s about all I have to go on at this point.
I am anxious to see what MNA has to say in it’s next press conference (if the contract is voted in). How exactly are they going to spin this into a good thing without looking like they simply rolled over?
LADY – RN THATS OK ! I DON’T WANT 100% YES VOTE INFACT I WANT A SIZABLE NO VOTE I REALLY THINK THERE SHOULD BE A THIRD CATEGORY ” YES BUT I DONT LIKE IT! ” I WANT THOSE CEO’S OF THESE CORPORATIONS TO KNOW WHAT WE THINK OF THEM.
I dread the next couple of days of embarassment in which the media will report that this was ratified and that we caved on staffing. Yet this is considered a victory. Yeah OK.
Uh, Phil, I don’t think a dissention vote has anything to say about the CEOs of the hospital corporations. It shows that you all are too shaky about your own power and organization to stand up and take them on. “I’ll take it, but I don’t like it”, then vote no, you’re a grown man, you are letting them shove this down your throat.
Remember this quote regarding TCH offer to remove concessions?
“You can’t give something back to us that is rightfully ours. We paid for these things already in the past. It’s like they came into our house, stole our furniture, and now they want to sell it back to us. How dumb do they think we are?”
How could our goal regarding staffing be averted so easily? Do you realize how this makes us look?
Oh, and thanks for not offering an all-nurse meeting to at least explain why staffing is no longer important.
Indeed, we look dumb.
I don’t know who you are quoting, but corporations can and do indeed take back things unions feel are rightfully theirs. The reality is taking away things from unions is becoming “business as usually” for many corporations as they negotiate contracts with their unions. So the fact that we fended off all those concessions and the TCHs had to pull them from the table IS in fact a big win for us. Going into negotiations thinking they wouldn’t or couldn’t pull those things from our contract is naive. We only will look “dumb” to those who don’t know any better about the price of doing business these days and labor/management dynamics. You should trust me when I say that the TCHs are NOT happy they didn’t get those concessions through. Does the fight for better staffing end now? Absolutely not. It continues, but in a different way. I voted YES.
Simple little question to throw a little gas on the fire
Is it wrong to assume that our executives will take the costs of the PR firms, The union busting specialist, the full page ads, the not one but two hired talking heads, out of their yearly bonuses…hmm somehow i think there will be quite a bit of boardroom spin going on to preserve those 
BK your “union avoidance specialist” comment had me LMAO.
On a more serious note what can we start doing to put some more teeth into our union. I was really disgusted to find out how little the repercussions would be for people who crossed. Shame was certainly not a factor to some of the nurses I talked to, and personally I do not think those individuals who cross a picket line should benefit from their peers sacrifices. Is there something in our (meaning MNA’s bylaws) that would more directly effect those peoples pocketbook. Lastly, I would like to see MNA’s strike fun restructured. I take strong issue with members having to beg for cash on a “who needs it most basis”…My feeling more monies should be going into our own coffers and less monies spent on the PAC donations. just my .02
I am actually a nursing student, an LPN planning to finish my RN the end of this year. This problem “patient safety” we all know has been an ongoing issue. When I heard what you RN’s were doing I was never so proud to be a nurse. Yes, although this impact my education, it was suppose to be so worth it. I understand the dilemma’s most of you might have to go through if an open-ended strike were to occur, the harm this would do to you all. But I TRULY thought this was about the patients, in the end, knowing what the tentative agreement is, those of you who vote yes, will not have fought for patient’s after all. Having an open-ended strike may have jeapordized many patients now but for the many, MANY years to come, will have been all worth it I feel. Just my opinion, sad to see the truth in the opening if the vote is yes. All I can say to our patients is…I’m Sorry.