Registered nurses at Unity Hospital voted by a 2-1 margin May 31 to join the Minnesota Nurses Association.
"It was a nice campaign that educated membership about what a union is and gave them all the facts," said Walt Fredrickson, labor relations director for MNA. Thanks to a consent agreement with Allina Hospitals and Clinics, which owns Unity, the organizing campaign and election took place in a respectful atmosphere that allowed nurses to have an open and honest discussion, he said. Allina remained neutral during the campaign and assisted in an expedited election process.
The election victory at Unity leaves only four major hospitals in the Twin Cities whose nursing staffs are not unionized: Regions Hospital in St. Paul; Fairview's Ridges Hospital in Burnsville and University of Minnesota Medical Center on the Minneapolis campus; and HealthEast Woodwinds Hospital in Woodbury.
Adapted from The Union Advocate, the official newspaper of the St. Paul Trades and Labor Assembly. E-mail The Advocate at: advocate@stpaulunions.org
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Registered nurses at Unity Hospital voted by a 2-1 margin May 31 to join the Minnesota Nurses Association.
“It was a nice campaign that educated membership about what a union is and gave them all the facts,” said Walt Fredrickson, labor relations director for MNA. Thanks to a consent agreement with Allina Hospitals and Clinics, which owns Unity, the organizing campaign and election took place in a respectful atmosphere that allowed nurses to have an open and honest discussion, he said. Allina remained neutral during the campaign and assisted in an expedited election process.
The election victory at Unity leaves only four major hospitals in the Twin Cities whose nursing staffs are not unionized: Regions Hospital in St. Paul; Fairview’s Ridges Hospital in Burnsville and University of Minnesota Medical Center on the Minneapolis campus; and HealthEast Woodwinds Hospital in Woodbury.
Adapted from The Union Advocate, the official newspaper of the St. Paul Trades and Labor Assembly. E-mail The Advocate at: advocate@stpaulunions.org