Minnesota Nurses Association Votes on Strike Authorization

DULUTH, Minn. – Members of the Minnesota Nurses Association vote for whether or not to authorize a strike.

Members of the Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) voted Monday over whether or not to authorize the union to strike. A vote ‘to authorize’ would allow the union to strike after giving a 10-day notice to hospital employers.

Local members could cast their vote at the Duluth Labor Temple. The MNA has said it is calling for “workplace violence prevention measures and proposals for better scheduling and flexibility to reduce turnover.”

Stacee Rosier, a Registered Nurse at Duluth Essentia Health’s Neuro-Trauma ICU, said staffing issues also impact patients. “If you have a nurse who has too many patients to take care of, they’re not able to give the best care that they need to,” Rosier said, “So you have patients who fall and are injured. Some of them might miss treatments or medications.”

Essentia Health has said they value their nurses and encouraged further negotiations, pointing to a meeting scheduled with the MNA on Wednesday. When asked about the possibility of future strikes, Associate Chief Nursing Officer Beth Young said, “We of course hope that the nurses choose not to strike, but if they choose to strike, we will be prepared in any scenario to care for the patients.”

The MNA will release the results of the vote at a press conference on Tuesday.