As Allina Health nurses enter their second week on strike, it remains to be seen whether the workers' dispute with the Minneapolis-based health system will be resolved anytime soon, according to a Star Tribune report.
The workers, who are represented by the Minnesota Nurses Association, began their second strike of the summer on Labor Day at five Minnesota hospitals — Abbott Northwestern Hospital and Phillips Eye Institute in Minneapolis, United Hospital in St. Paul, Mercy Hospital in Coon Rapids and Unity Hospital in Fridley. More than one week later, no future talks have been scheduled, and neither side has directly reached out to the other to restart talks, according to the article.
Still, Allina on Sunday released a statement saying the organization is hopeful an agreement will be reached in the near future, reports KARE. Allina also said 440 permanent nurses have decided to continue to work, although that number has been questioned by the union.
"Each day, as more nurses return to the bedside care of patients, it is increasingly clear that a significant and growing number of nurses are rejecting this strike as a method to resolve our labor dispute. We sincerely hope that the leadership of the union is listening and is motivated to seek a fair and equitable resolution to these negotiations," Allina said.
Allina also said the health system and the MNA, which represents 4,800 Allina nurses, agree on issues such as hiring practices, scheduling, tuition reimbursement and staff safety. Additionally, the health system said movement has been made toward transitioning the nurses to Allina's health insurance plan by 2020, the issue that has been a key sticking point in negotiations, according to KARE.
The two sides were close to reaching an agreement Sept. 3. At that time, Allina and the union at least tentatively agreed to continue talks related to a plan that would give charge nurses more time to provide additional support to bedside nurses, reports the Star Tribune. The two sides also agreed on a transition that would move nurses from four union health plans to Allina's three corporate plans, the report states.
But the MNA expressed concern about potentially losing bargaining authority over the cost and quality of the nurses' health insurance, and requested that a hand-picked actuary be able to review the Allina plans annually to ensure their benefit values don't decline by 5 percent or more without union consent, according to the article.
Allina offered to have its own actuary guarantee that one of its health plans wouldn't change in benefit value by 5 percent during the duration of the contract, but management didn't want to give the union that authority, the article states.
The union's offer is pending. Rick Fuentes, a spokesperson for the union, said, "We would very much like to go back to the table, and we still have a proposal out there that they have not responded to," according to KARE.
In the meantime, Allina has hired 1,500 replacement nurses. And given the uncertainty of the duration of the open-ended strike, some Allina nurses last week had already applied for temporary nursing jobs elsewhere to make ends meet, the Star Tribunereports.