Aspirus St. Luke’s responds to Minnesota Nurses Association strike vote

DULUTH, Minn. – Aspirus St. Luke’s released a statement following Minnesota Nurses Association announcing the union had authorized a strike.

They have not declared a strike, but the vote authorizes leadership to trigger a strike if they wish.

The statement reads:

Unfortunately, it appears that the Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) has authorization to call a strike against Aspirus St. Luke’s (ASL), Essentia Health and many metro hospitals.   

Their grounds for calling the vote are entirely dishonest and without merit. There have been no allegations of unfair labor practices (ULP) against ASL filed with the National Labor Relations Board, as is required by law. At this point, it is clear that any ULP the MNA might file would be done to justify strike actions, rather than to address any actual concern.   

We are deeply disappointed. The 2022 strike called by MNA resulted in fractured relationships and significant, undue financial and emotional strain to all involved. What’s more, the strike had zero upside for the nurses. The agreement we finally reached included nothing that couldn’t have been achieved through continued bargaining without a strike. We remain committed to bargaining in good faith and a strike will only divert resources away from our employees and patients to replacement staff. 

The MNA must give ASL at least 10 days’ notice of its intent to strike. Based on the vote today, the earliest date for any strike action would be July 4. It is likely that the MNA is trying to schedule strikes at multiple hospitals across the state at the same time. This makes it harder to bring in enough temporary nurses – and increases the potential of unsafe staffing. If their goal was truly to ensure safe staffing across the State of Minnesota, they could do that by acting against each hospital individually rather than creating a statewide disruption.  

Knowing this was a possibility, ASL has been preparing a contingency plan to bring on temporary nurses and will be prepared to activate that plan within that 10-day “advance notice” window.  

We have a mission to treat every patient seeking care, and we will not fail in delivering on that commitment.   

RELATED: Minnesota Nurses Association votes to authorize strike

RELATED: Minnesota Nurses Association Votes on Strike Authorization