Inside the Hospital amidst MNA Nurse Strike

DULUTH, Minn. — As thousands of nurses with the Minnesota Nurses Association walked out and hit the picket lines, many are left wondering what’s going on inside of the hospitals now.

Tuesday was day two of the three-day MNA nurse strike.

The strike comes after months of contract negotiations between the MNA and 16 Minnesota hospitals, with nurses expressing frustration over staffing levels and not enough pay.

“We care about our wages, we care about being fairly compensated, but our core issue is staffing. That is what is burning nurses out, grinding them up, chewing them up, and spitting them out. We cannot sustain what we’ve been doing and that is why we are out here,” said St. Luke’s Registered Nurse, Emily Kniskern.

St. Luke’s and Essentia say the MNA nurses are asking for a wage increase that is unaffordable and cannot be fulfilled.

While MNA nurses have left the bedside, patients continue rolling in.

The twin port hospitals say they’ve filled the staffing gap with travel nurses, who will work until the strike ends.

We reached out to Essentia and St. Luke’s to see if they could offer any assurance regarding the quality and experience of the replacement nurses.

Essentia provided us a written statement that reads in part:

“Agency and travel nurses underwent orientation prior to starting work at our facilities. They are licensed and trained to provide the high-level of care our patients and communities expect. As traveling and agency nurses, they are accustomed to adapting to different facilities.”

On Monday, St. Luke’s provided us a written statement that reads in part:

“We had a very smooth transition of care from St. Luke’s nurses to replacement RNs. We are fully staffed and extremely pleased with the quality of the replacement RNs.” 

When the strike ends, what will happen next?

The MNA said they plan to head back to work and continue the negotiating process.

In the Northland, at least one strike has already been called off — Essentia Health said its Moose Lake campus withdrew their strike notice on Sunday.

MNA nurses in the twin ports plan to strike until Thursday morning.