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NewsBriefs_April 5/5/11 11:35 AM Page 6 NEWS BRIEFS Minnesota RNs in Hibbing Pull Strike Notice After Marathon Bargaining MINNESOTA M ore than 150 registered nurses at Range Regional Health Services (RRHS) pulled their strike notice in late April after significant progress was made on contract talks during a marathon, 12hour bargaining session. A three-day strike had been scheduled for May 4. "We are demanding a contract that gives our patients the best, safest, and most effective nursing care possible," said April Klander, RN, chair of the Minnesota Nurses Association's bargaining team at RRHS in Hibbing, Minn. "Inside our hospital, nurses have serious concerns about unsafe staffing situations that are putting our patients at risk and that need to be addressed." Nurses have been working without a contract since the current agreement expired on Oct. 31, 2010. 6 N AT I O N A L N U R S E "Our proposals are aimed at increasing and improving the safety of our patients by staffing our hospital units properly, making sure our nurses aren't overwhelmed, and having safe patient assignments," Klander said. "Our patients deserve the best qualified nurses caring for them in a safe environment, and our nurses are united in seeing this belief reflected in our contract." Nurses want contract language that provides for staff nurse input into the delivery of nursing care, RN input regarding staffing levels that includes acuity, or how sick patients are, and a safe work environment, according to Klander. "It is our hope that management will return to the table, bargain seriously, and agree upon a contract that is fair for patients and nurses," Klander said. On March 8, the RNs held an informational picket near the front lawn of the hospital. Horns honked and sirens wailed in support of more than 200 nurses who walked 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 the line, creating a sea of red scrubs. RRHS bargaining unit members were joined by MNA members from Duluth, Grand Rapids, and the Twin Cities, along with brothers and sisters from other unions from Range. In contract negotiations on Feb. 18, MNA nurses had made a settlement offer to management. The offer protected current contract benefits, provided small wage gains in order to prevent the hospital from being competitively disadvantaged in recruitment and retention, and established meaningful staff nurse input into the delivery of nursing care and staffing levels. At that time, however, rather than attempting to resolve the contract issues, management left the bargaining session without responding to the union's offer. The MNA committee continues to call upon management to move forward, rather than to ignore problems and to attempt to strip rights and protection from nurses and patients. —Jan Rabbers APRIL 2011