MNA: Allina Nurses Plan To Strike Beginning Labor Day

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – The Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) is going on strike for the second time this summer.

Union officials announced on Friday morning that beginning Sept. 5 (Labor Day), 4,800 Allina Health nurses from five metro hospitals will walk off the job.

The last strike in June was for one week but this one will be indefinite, according to the union president Mary Turner.

MNA nurses working for Allina want to keep their current union health care plans, but Allina is asking them to change to the same plan as its other employees.

Turner said the newer plans which other Allina employees use are less affordable.

"We sustain more injuries at work than construction workers or police officers because of this we need to have health insurance we can afford to use," Turner said.

The last strike in June cost Allina $20 million dollars.

Allina Health spokesperson David Kanihan calls the nurses' current insurance plans outdated and too expensive for the employer.

Kanihan added the newer plans are already providing coverage for 30,000 other Allina employees.

"We are really disappointed the nurses union has chosen this path of walking away from patient care rather than trying to find a settlement to this situation," he said.

Union members said they will keep doing what it takes to protect their lives and livelihoods.

Allina does have the option of imposing a contract in a take it or leave it approach but said Friday that is not something the hospital wants to do.

Both sides are hoping for more constructive negotiation to avoid the strike.

During the June strike, MNA released a list of several complaints alleging patient care was suffering because of lack of training and experience of replacement nurses.

As of Friday, the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) said it had not substantiated any of the complaints filed during the June strike.

Rep. Keith Ellison commented on the strike plans Friday afternoon.

"I support the right of the nurses to strike and to collectively bargain to protect their health coverage," he said. "We all have to visit the hospital at some point, and nurses are often the first and last people we see. Hard-working nurses are dedicated to taking care of all of us. They deserve health coverage that allows them to provide the best care for patients."