12,000 Minnesota nurses plan 1-day walkout

[June 10, 2010]  MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- More than 12,000 nurses in Minnesota were prepared to hit the picket lines Thursday as part of a new national union's aim to fight hard for nurses as hospitals are increasingly pressured to cut costs.

The one-day strike called by the Minnesota Nurses Association was scheduled to start at 7 a.m. at 14 hospitals in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area and last through 7 a.m. Friday. A similar action planned in California was temporarily blocked by a federal judge.

Despite the anticipated size of Minnesota's strike, the immediate effect was expected to be minimal. Two big hospitals in the area aren't involved, and those that are arranged replacement nurses, have taken steps to reduce their number of patients and rescheduled elective surgeries.

Like other businesses, hospitals are trying to trim their budgets even as health care costs have been skyrocketing. Nurse pay and benefits are among hospitals' largest expenses, and the new union -- formed barely six months ago -- is gaining popularity for its more assertive stance for nurses' interests.

Nurses oppose proposed pension cuts and complain that staffing levels have been cut dangerously, making their jobs ever more stressful.

Patients are older, and therefore sicker, because they tend to have multiple chronic conditions. Also, advancing medical technology is putting new demands on nurses, said Karen Higgins, a Massachusetts nurse and one of three presidents in the 155,000-member national union.

"They've had enough," she said. "It's time to say that we're going to do what we have to do to protect our patients."

Union nurses in California had planned a simultaneous strike before a San Francisco judge temporarily blocked it and set a June 18 court date for both sides to argue their case.

The Minnesota and California negotiations are the largest since the National Nurses United union formed in December. The group's more aggressive message has found favor with nurses who say they haven't gotten enough help from their local unions. In the last six months, it has picked up 5,500 registered nurses in Texas, Nevada and Illinois.

Representatives of both hospital groups claim the national union is trying to provoke a headline-grabbing strike to grow its membership.

"We think their only goal at this is to have the largest nurses' strike in history," said Maureen Schriner, spokeswoman for the Twin Cities hospitals. Dwaine Duckett, of the University of California system, called the strike threats "part of a national strategy to gain negotiating leverage and demonstrate nationwide power."

The union is billing the strike as the nation's largest. In 1997, about 7,300 California nurses went on strike for two days in January and one day in February, according to the California union and published reports. For five weeks in 1984, about 6,000 Twin Cities nurses also went on strike.

Staffing levels and pension benefits have been key issues in Minnesota and California's negotiations. Nurses say staffing is at dangerous levels; hospitals insist their operations are safe.

The National Nurses United wants rigid staffing ratios in all its nurse contracts, an idea hospitals resist as too expensive and inflexible.

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Online:

Minnesota Nurses Association: http://mnnurses.org/

Twin Cities Hospitals:
http://www.twincitieshospitals.com/

[Associated Press; By CHRIS WILLIAMS]

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