Hundreds of replacement nurses from across the country are ready to step in at Minneapolis-based Allina Health if its regular nurses go through with their planned strike, according to a Star Tribune report.
As many as 4,800 Allina Health nurses plan to strike for one week, beginning at 7 a.m. June 19. However, Allina officials told the Star Tribune just 1,400 replacements are needed to get through the week.
With the replacement nurses, Allina should be able to maintain full schedules of surgeries, baby deliveries, emergency room treatments and all other forms of care at three hospitals — Abbott Northwestern in Minneapolis, United Hospital in St. Paul, Minn., and Mercy Hospital in Coon Rapids, Minn. — said Sara Criger, president of Mercy Hospital, who is leading Allina's strike planning, according to the report.
The strike is also scheduled to occur at Unity Hospital in Fridley, Minn. That hospital will operate at a "minimal level" during the strike, Ms. Criger added.
Replacement nurses are expected to begin training later this week.
The Minnesota Nurses Association, which represents the Allina workers, announced June 6 that nurses voted to reject a contract offer that that would have phased out their union-backed health benefits and authorize a strike.
The last chance to prevent a walkout might have passed Monday, when a federal mediator called Allina and union negotiators back to the table, but a deal was never reached, according to the report. Since a deal wasn't reached, Allina must come through on financial obligations to the staffing companies it hired and to the replacement nurses, the report notes.
Allina plans to have nursing assistants and other caregivers bridge the transition when union nurses leave their posts early Sunday morning and the replacement nurses take over patient care at 7 a.m., Ms. Criger told the Star Tribune. However, some patients who are severely ill or in intensive care will be directly handed off from union nurses to their replacements, under an agreement between Allina and union leaders, the report notes.
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