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More Calls For Bargaining After Day 2 Of Nurse Strike

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Day two of the Minnesota Nurses Association's strike against Allina hospitals brought a renewed called for Allina leaders to return to the bargaining table.

Nurses walked off the job Monday morning after a 22-hour bargaining session failed to produce an agreement.

The nurses' union says they felt they were close to a deal and striking nurses say their latest proposal to Allina Health contained agreements on many issues, but Allina claims differences in how to pay for health care is keeping both sides far apart.

"Workplace safety, improvements to staffing and a monetary safety net for those nurses who would potentially face financial ruin once they entered into the high deductible Allina plans," the Minnesota Nurses Association's Mary Turner said.

From workplace safety to improving staffing, Allina says it's the nurses' approach to health care that made them walk away from the bargaining table.

"We rejected their most recent proposal. It gave the union too much control over the insurance policy that 30,000 other Allina employees and their families use every day, and it would limit our ability to make reasonable changes in the health plan consistent with health care reform," Dan Kanihan said. "Their proposal also shifted the cost increases of the nurses' plans onto the rest of the Allina health employees and the communities who pay for care. That's just not something we can accept."

Allina says there will be no return to talks until the union decides to come up with a better way to deal with the nurses' contribution to health care costs.

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