National Nurses United

4 N A T I O N A L N U R S E W W W . N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G J U LY | A U G U S T | S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 9 MINNESOTA E arlier this year, Minnesota Nurses Association nurses in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area negotiated and ratified contracts that resulted in the highest wage increases in more than 10 years, landmark workplace safety language, and various local improve- ments that will make their ability to care for patients at the bedside easier. Their recipe for success: planning and solidarity. Nurses began preparing for negotiations two years early. They decided that working together to plan strategies and tactics for all the six hospital systems in the Metro Twin Cities would show their strength right from the beginning. They created a Metro-wide negotiating team with members from each hospital system to plan the campaign. They issued bargaining unit surveys almost a year before to assess the top needs of nurses at each hospital, including what they would fight for with a strike, if necessary. They set Metro- wide priorities, such as workplace safety, and local priorities, such as limits on insur- ance rate increases, where there was also a great need. As a result, negotiating teams communi- cated with one another and coordinated proposals when possible. When one nurse's local bargaining team won workplace safety measures, including language that prevents nurses from continuing to care for a patient who has harmed them, that language was passed on to other nurses' teams to emulate. Actual bargaining began in March, but nurses increasingly felt their voices were not heard on critical issues. It became obvious that the hospital management teams only came willing to discuss wages and wanted to dismiss other issues including workplace safety and staffing. Nurses countered by opening negotia- tions to their MNA members to listen in and offer testimony directly to management. While management may have acted dismis- sively at times, even after hearing horrific stories of workplace violence in their hospi- tals, they were clearly uneasy sitting in front of their employees and negotiating. Nurses who attended the sessions said they found the experience valuable, even if all they could do was sit and listen. It showed their union is transparent in negotiations while the employers were not. Nurses packed negotiating rooms throughout the spring, passionately sharing stories that illustrated the urgent need to agree to their proposals to improve working conditions. They sent management a loud and clear message that their bargaining teams had members' complete support and could not be divided. The teams became frustrated with each system's failure to take their proposals seri- ously, and in May, decided it was time to go public. Nurses held a series of informational pickets in late May, to inform the public about the unwillingness of the hospitals to negotiate fairly with nurses and to show the hospitals that nurses were serious about achieving a fair contract. Hundreds of nurses and allies filled the side- walks around Abbott Northwestern, Children's of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Fairview Riverside, Methodist, North Memorial, St. Joseph's, and United hospitals on several days in May to call on management to listen to their concerns and reach a fair agreement. Hundreds even showed up at Children's in Minneapolis in spite of a downpour and high winds! Following the informational pickets, the bargaining unit from Children's Hospitals in Minneapolis and St. Paul held a strike vote, which passed overwhelmingly. Those nurses were driven by dealing with an extremely difficult management group that kept saying they were not interested in the nurses' proposals to address skyrocketing insurance costs and recruitment and retention issues, among others. After making many compro- mises, packing the negotiating rooms, and picketing, members rejected management's latest offer and authorized the bargaining team to set a strike date. The hospital settled soon after the vote. Thanks to that solidarity and nurse power, hospitals finally listened, and nurses in all six hospital systems reached tentative agreements, earning significant gains in protecting nurses who experience workplace violence, wages, and other hospital-specific issues. Nurses made large gains in other areas of their contracts related to education, sched- uling, and patient care issues. "This is a major victory for nurses every- where," said MNA President Mary C. Turner, RN, who was also a member of her hospital's negotiating team. "It shows that standing together with a united front can accomplish your goals." —Barbara Brady Unified front makes the difference in Minnesota contracts negotiations Metro-area nurses win agreements NEWS BRIEFS

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