About 1,350 nurses at Fairview-Riverside and Fairview-Southside hospitals continue their strike, with no talks scheduled, the Minnesota Nurses Association said. Meanwhile, nurses from Abbott Northwestern and Phillips Eye Institute were meeting Wednesday to discuss discrepancies in the voting results on their contracts.

The MNA announced Tuesday that in the balloting on the Abbott Northwestern-Phillips Eye Institute contract, "an initial count on June 3 showed a small vote in favor of ratifying the contract and the employer was informed of this." Some nurses then requested a recount.

"A careful review found that there was an unintentional mistake made in the initial count, and the contract may have been rejected by one vote out of approximately 1,200 votes cast. The review also detailed that there were five more ballots than people signed in, so we may never know the true results," said Jan Rabbers, MNA spokeswoman.

The MNA believed that, because of the error, a re-vote with the right to strike should be allowed. Allina, which owns the two hospitals, has taken the legal position that an enforceable contract agreement exists.

"While labor law may give Allina the legal right to enforce this contract, MNA believes the fairest solution in this situation would have been a revote," Rabbers said. "But, rather than engage in actions that would only serve to delay the eventual outcome and leave the nurses at risk, the nurses will be working under the new contract."

Wednesday's meetings will provide an opportunity to discuss the situation and how it might be prevented in the future, the MNA said.

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Visit the Minnesota Nurses Association website: http://www.mnnurses.org