The strike by more than 1,350 nurses may be over at two Fairview Health Services hospitals, but the Minnesota Nurses Association says it will not drop NLRB charges against seven nursing employment agencies and nine other Twin Cities hospitals.

The union claims the hospitals and nursing pools refused to accept striking Fairview nurses for temporary placement, thus violating their legal rights to engage in union activities.

'The fact that we settled the contract doesn't take anything away from how vigorously we intend to pursue this,' said Phil Finkelstein, a staff attorney for the nurses association. 'We don't want anyone discriminated against because they exercise their Section 7 rights to legally strike or engage in collective action. You can't have meaningful rights if other employers can blackball you.'

The nurses returned to work June 29, four days after ratifying a contract that ended their 23-day walkout at Fairview-University Medical Center (Riverside) in Minneapolis and Fairview Southdale Hospital in Edina.

Finkelstein said that during the strike, the nursing pools implemented new screening procedures. Striking nurses were told they wouldn't be referred for jobs, he said; in a few cases, striking nurses who actually received placements were sent home when the hospitals learned their status.

Karen Patek, a negotiator for the nurses association, said hospitals routinely use nursing pools to compensate for staff shortages. In her experience, she said, the only times qualified nurses have been refused placement was because of poor job performance or because they tried to use the pool to get additional work at their own hospital.

Lost pay sought
Finkelstein said 20 nurses already have given testimony to investigators from the National Labor Relations Board. The union is seeking to have affected nurses paid for all lost shifts they could have worked elsewhere during the strike.

Ron Sharp, regional director of the NLRB in Minneapolis, said he hoped to issue a decision on the charges by the end of July. 'We are getting evidence from the charging parties as well as from the charged parties,' he said.

Named in the union's charges are four Allina Health System hospitals (United in St. Paul, Abbott Northwestern in Minneapolis, Mercy in Coon Rapids, and Unity in Fridley); HealthEast Care System in St. Paul (the parent company for St. John's in Maplewood, St. Joseph's and Bethesda in St. Paul, and numerous clinics); Regions Hospital in St. Paul; North Memorial Hospital in Robbinsdale; Methodist Hospital in St. Louis Park; and Regina Medical Center in Hastings.

Nursing employment agencies named in the charges are Favorite Nurses of St. Paul; Interim Healthcare and New Horizons Home Care and Nursing Services, both of Roseville; Firstat Nursing Services, Nursefinders, and Professional Resources Network (PRN), all of Bloomington; and Intelistaf of Minneapolis.

Finkelstein said charges against the two Fairview hospitals - including failure to provide information on replacement nurses and encouraging other employers not to hire striking nurses - were dropped as part of the back-to-work agreement.

This article was written for the July 5 issue of The Union Advocate newspaper. Used by permission. The Union Advocate is the official publication of the St. Paul Trades and Labor Assembly. E-mail The Advocate at: advocate@mtn.org