National Nurses United

MINNESOTA I have been a nurse for over 16 years, with 14 of those years at North Memo- rial Maple Grove Hospital in the Family Birth Center. My mom was a public health nurse for over 30 years, influencing me to take on a career in nursing. I love my job and the people I work alongside every day. Maple Grove Hospital started with a vision of a community hospital providing "health care as it ought to be." We were a family. We took care of each other, and our employer took care of us. They prided them- selves on being a union-free workplace with the idea we could collaborate as a team. However, Maple Grove Hospital is located in the Twin Cities Metro area, where most hospitals are unionized. Slowly over time, the gap between us at Maple Grove and the rest of the Twin Cities metro union nurses widened. Health care became more of a business, our patients became "cus- tomers," and our employer slowly took away benefits and did not keep us on par with the rest of the metro. North Memorial Health branded us as "One North" but our hospital and our sister hospital, North Memorial Robbinsdale, are not created as equals. It was clear our voices were not being heard and it was time to stand strong together as nurses and form a union. The nurses at Maple Grove Hospital deserve the same benefits as other nurses in the metro. We warrant equal pay, better retirement benefits including a pension, better health care coverage, safe staffing, adequate breaks, increased PTO accrual to cover vacation and sick time, among many other things. Maple Grove Hospital is starting a large expansion in 2027. While this expansion is much needed to serve our community bet- ter, it raises concerns among the nursing staff about where and how we are going to recruit and retain nurses. If we do not have parity to other metro nurses, how can our employer expect nurses to stay? We need to keep talented, experienced nurses at the bedside as well as recruit them. Our patients and families deserve it. The nurses want Maple Grove Hospital to be a place to start, continue, and end their careers. We want to be the place where all nurses want to work, and all patients want to seek care. We deliver the most babies in the state of Minnesota year after year, and we are proud that our families continue to choose Maple Grove because of the care they received from the nursing staff. Overall, we have an incredible culture at Maple Grove Hospital, a culture because nurses created and sustained it— and with a union, we can continue it. Our community should know that we are in this contract fight with their care in mind. We want to be able to provide the best expe- rience. We value our patients, and we want our employer to value us so we can continue to provide the care patients expect. To those who do not have a union repre- senting themselves, I would encourage you to stand up for yourself. Having a union isn't about making promises, it's about standing together and fighting for what you are worth. —Lisa Groebner, RN Fighting for what we are worth A Maple Grove nurse on fighting for a first contract NEWS BRIEFS 6 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 A P R I L | M AY | J U N E 2 0 2 6

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