MNA reaches tentative agreement with St. Luke’s Hospital
The Minnesota Nurses Association has reached a tentative agreement with St. Luke’s Hospital.
St. Luke’s put out a statement Monday night at around 11:30 p.m stating:
“We are pleased to announce that St. Luke’s and MNA reached a tentative contract agreement. MNA has withdrawn its strike notice and will bring the contract to nurses for ratification in the near future. We want to thank all who have worked so diligently at the table to reach a fair and equitable contract.”
St. Luke’s Hospital
The MNA sent out a statement as well, on Tuesday morning. The agreement includes a 17% pay increase over the three years of the contract.
It said that staffing changes won by MNA nurses in the tentative agreements will give nurses a say in how staffing levels are set and to ensure changes to staffing levels benefit nurses and patients at the bedside.
Staffing changes won by nurses vary by each tentative agreement, including language to: prevent reductions in staffing levels without consensus between nurses and management; help protect nurses from discipline when they raise concerns about unsafe assignments; and to trigger reviews of staffing levels by nurses and management in response to key measures of patient and nurse wellbeing and outcomes.
“This tentative agreement is a historic win for nurses and patients at the bedside,” said Mary C. Turner, RN at North Memorial Hospital and President of the Minnesota Nurses Association. “For years, hospital executives have been pushing nurses out of the profession by under-staffing our units and under-valuing our nurses. This tentative agreement will help to keep nurses at the bedside, where we will keep fighting to oppose the corporate healthcare policies which threaten our hospital systems and the care our patients deserve.”
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St. Luke’s went on to say “Lake View and our hospital staff nurses represented by the MNA have completed two mutually agreed upon negotiation sessions after the previous collective bargaining agreement expired on September 30, 2022. We have multiple bargaining sessions scheduled in December, with the next session set for Friday, December 9.
Children’s Hospital of Minnesota has also reached a tentative agreement with the MNA. As a condition of the agreement, the pending strike notice at Children’s Minnesota has been rescinded. The union must still ratify the deal. A vote is expected to happen this week. The union’s bargaining team is unanimously, favorably recommending this contract for ratification.
Children’s Hospital put out a statement saying, “Thanks to the tireless work of our negotiation team and countless others, patients and families across our region can rest assured that our kid experts will be there to care for the most vulnerable children in our community. We value the dedication of our nurses and countless other staff for the vital roles they each play in caring for our patient families.”