Contract negotiations between Minneapolis-based Allina Health and its nurses have broken down over health insurance, according to a Star Tribune report.
The two sides are at odds on whether nurses, represented by the Minnesota Nurses Association, should give up union-protected health plans and switch to plans that other Allina employees receive.
Union leaders held a picket Wednesday near Allina's Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis, where they argued they had given up various other benefits in previous negotiations to preserve their health plans, according to the report.
In recent years, Allina has bargained at the same time as the competing hospital systems, in the Twin Cities area, but broke ranks due to what it deemed as costly and outdated union health plans for its 5,000 nurses, according to the report.
Allina spokesman David Kanihan denied the union's assertion that insurance plans for everyone else at Allina are terrible deals, telling the Star Tribune "That’s simply not true." He added, "They work well for the 30,000 people who have them, including myself."
The two sides held a negotiating session in what was considered a last chance for agreement before the current contract expires June 1, according to the report. However, the union and Allina agreed to another negotiating session Thursday, the Star Tribune reports.
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