In ballots counted Thursday night, members of the Minnesota Nurses Association approved the pacts covering 10,750 RNs.

Negotiations began in February for nurses at six different health care systems, representing 13 facilities in the metro area: Allina (Abbott Northwestern, Phillips Eye institute, United Hospital, Mercy Hospital); Fairview (Southdale, University of Minnesota Medical Center/Riverside Campus); Children’s Hospitals and Clinics (Minneapolis and St. Paul); HealthEast Systems (Bethesda Rehabilitation, St. Joseph’s, St. John’s); Methodist Hospital; North Memorial Hospital.

The new contracts contain language that the hospitals will not challenge the supervisory or managerial status of any current member of the bargaining units during the term of the contract.

This issue arises from recent National Labor Relations Board rulings involving nurses who take a lead role on a shift (commonly known as charge nurses). In these rulings, collectively known as the “Kentucky River” cases, the NLRB found that charge nurses were supervisors. The cases also potentially could exclude other professional workers from joining unions. Congress is considering legislation that would overturn the NLRB rulings.

MNA President and United Hospital Co-Chair Linda Slattengren said her union “made unprecedented gains with contract language that protects bargaining unit status. I am confident this language will be a standard to benefit other nursing unions across the nation.”

The agreements also include a three-year wage increase of 11 percent and maintenance of MNA’s health insurance plans. MNA negotiators rebuffed overtures to change vacation and time-off policies, the union said. The Twin Cities Hospitals-MNA Pension Plan, the nation’s first portable pension plan for nurses, remains intact, after both parties decided not to open negotiations for the program.

In addition, nurses netted contract language regarding nursing practice issues that strengthens capacity for nurses to exercise their professional judgment, the union said. In various forms among the 6 different bargaining tables, MNA negotiation teams introduced and achieved measures to develop patient acuity based on nursing assessment. For example:

- Allina Hospitals will develop a Metro-wide committee to identify the best practices around an acuity system and identify key measures that will be utilized to determine successful implementation.

- Children’s Hospitals and Clinics will create an MNA Contract Acuity System Specialist Position to facilitate, educate and evaluate a patient acuity program

- Fairview Health Care will explore an acuity system that captures acuity as an established measurement tool that, among other things, predicts nursing care requirements for individual patients based on the severity of patient illness, need for specialized equipment and technology, intensity of nursing interventions required and the complexity of clinical nursing judgment needed to design, implement and evaluate the patient’s nursing care plan.

The agreements also implement safety initiatives that are designed to protect the health of nurses so they can continue to care for patients. Health and Safety features in the new MNA contracts include the restriction of lifting requirements, developing an injury risk assessment tool and special protections related to potential disaster events.

MNA plans to pursue other avenues beyond the negotiations table to address more innovative safe staffing measures that assure quality patient care, the union said.

For more information
Visit the MNA website, www.mnnurses.org

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