Thousands of MNA Nurses Strike Across Minnesota

DULUTH, Minn. — On Monday, nurses with the Minnesota Nurses Association went on strike at hospitals across the Twin Cities and Twin Ports.

The MNA and the hospitals have spent more than five months in contract negotiations, with nurses complaining of low wages and understaffing.

The two groups have yet to reach an agreement.

10 days ago, nurses at 16 different hospitals in the Twin Cities, Twin Ports, and Moose Lake announced that they would be going on a three-day strike.

“I think what we want to see is a more serious movement by the employer, or by Essentia, in regards to how to try and fix the staffing situation that’s going on within Essentia and our community. We hope that they see this as a strong message to them, that we’re united in wanting to achieve our goals to have better staffing and better patient care,” said Essentia Nurse, Steve Strand.

Last week, Essentia filed an unfair labor practice charge against the MNA, alleging that the strike would be illegal.

The hospital said the MNA failed to include them among the list of facilities in its 10-day strike notice.

The MNA disagreed, stating that the strike would not be illegal, which is why they decided to go through with it.

We reached out to the Twin Port hospitals for comment.

Essentia provided us with a written statement that reads,

“Essentia Health is disappointed the MNA is focusing its efforts on a strike instead of at the bargaining table, where real solutions are found. We continue to believe that it’s imperative for both sides to exhaust our options in pursuit of a mutually beneficial agreement. One of those options, which we’ve repeatedly requested, is mediation. Unfortunately, the union has consistently declined this request.

Essentia is proud to have some of the finest nurses in the country. We value the outstanding care they provide while uplifting our mission of making a healthy difference in people’s lives. However, we cannot agree to the MNA’s request for a 27% wage increase because it’s not responsible.

We want to assure our patients and communities that our hospitals will remain open and accessible during a strike. We have extensive contingency plans in place to preserve our ability to deliver the highest standards of care. Essentia’s top priority in everything we do is to improve the safety and well-being of the patients and communities we’re privileged to serve.”

A statement from St. Luke’s reads in part,

“We are appropriately focused on caring for our patients during the MNA work stoppage and have not scheduled our next negotiating session. We look forward to returning to the table to reach a fair and equitable agreement. We must balance fair compensation, continued investment in services, and maintaining the highest standard of patient care, all while striving to keep health care affordable for our community.

• MNA is asking for wage increases of 24.5% over three years (10%, 8.5%, 6%) among many other economic demands, which are simply unaffordable.
• St. Luke’s is offering a 10.5% wage increase over three years, which is generous by any measure. 

We did everything we could to avoid a strike. We negotiated in good faith through 17 sessions, including 44 hours just this past week. On Saturday night at 10 pm, we were at an impasse and had to focus our resources on preparing to care for our region during the work stoppage. We did not abandon the negotiating process. We have been asking for federal mediation for months. MNA could have averted this strike and chose not to.”

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

MNA nurses in the twin ports plan to strike until 7am Thursday morning