Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton and Minnesota Lt. Governor Tina Smith have asked representatives from Minneapolis-based Allina Health and the union representing striking nurses to meet with them Monday to try and reach an agreement.
The Dayton-Smith administration, along with federal mediators, have been meeting separately with both sides over the past five weeks. Now, representatives from Allina and the Minnesota Nurses Association are asked to meet jointly at the governor's residence "until their remaining differences are resolved in a way that puts patient care first, and is agreeable to both sides," according to a statement from the governor's office.
Representatives from both sides confirmed to the Star Tribune they will meet at the residence.
More than 4,000 Allina nurses, represented by the Minnesota Nurses Association, began their walkout on Labor Day at five Minnesota hospitals following a week-long strike in June. With a vote last week to reject Allina's latest offer, strikes over health benefits, staffing and safety concerns continued at Abbott Northwestern Hospital and Phillips Eye Institute in Minneapolis, United Hospital in St. Paul, Mercy Hospital in Coon Rapids and Unity Hospital in Fridley.
A key sticking point in the dispute between Allina and its 4,800 nurses has been the nurses' health insurance.
Allina wanted to eliminate the nurses' union-backed health plans, which include high premiums but low or no deductibles, and move the nurses to its corporate plans, reports the Star Tribune. Allina has estimated that eliminating the nurses' union-backed health plans would save the health system $10 million per year.
The MNA ultimately agreed last month to move all nurses by 2020 to Allina's three corporate health plans, but they asked for some oversight of the corporate plans to ensure their cost and quality, reports the Star Tribune. According to the publication, the latest Allina offer did not grant what the union wanted, but it did agree to leave two of the union health plans untouched through 2019.
Allina Health officials said three issues were still unresolved: a lump-sum bonus plan; the sharing of cost increases in the nurse-only insurance plans in 2019; and a framework for managing cost increases in the future, after this contract period ends.
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