Strikes are nothing new among Minnesota nurses or nurses across the country, as nursing has become among the most strike-prone professions in recent years.
Minnesota has seen two major nurses’ strikes over the last two decades. Six thousand nurses walked off the job for 38 days in 1984, and in 2001 more than 1,300 nurses at Fairview Health Systems went on strike.
Nurses in other cities have fought similar battles for safe patient staffing and respect on the job. In Philadelphia, 1,500 nurses at Temple University Hospital ended a 28-day strike last month. In California, 4,500 nurses waged a 10-day strike in March 2008.
The non-profit, non-partisan National Bureau of Economic Research released a study in March that analyzes nurses’ strikes in New York between 1984 and 2004, and “suggests that hospitals functioning during nurses’ strikes are doing so at a lower quality of patient care,” according to the abstract.
“Do Strikes Kill? Evidence from New York State,” authored by Jonathan Gruber and Samuel A. Kleiner, finds that in-hospital mortality increased by 19.4 percent during nurses’ strikes, and patients were 6.5 percent more likely to be readmitted within 30 days of release.
Minnesota Nurses Association President Linda Hamilton said nurses are hoping to soften the impact of a potential strike on patients by limiting it to one day. Twin Cities hospitals, though, have refused to rule out a weeklong lockout, saying they need to offer more than one day of work to lure replacement workers to the metro area.
“We want to have the maximum impact on our employers in terms of letting them know Twin Cities nurses are serious about standing up for patient safety,” Hamilton said. “At the same time, a one-day strike has the minimum impact on our patients and the communities served by these hospitals.”
Both sides say they hope to work out a deal before the strike takes place. But the clock is ticking.
Michael Moore edits The Union Advocate, the official publication of the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation. Learn more at www.stpaulunions.org
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Twin Cities nurses to take historic stand for patient safety with video
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Strikes are nothing new among Minnesota nurses or nurses across the country, as nursing has become among the most strike-prone professions in recent years.
Minnesota has seen two major nurses’ strikes over the last two decades. Six thousand nurses walked off the job for 38 days in 1984, and in 2001 more than 1,300 nurses at Fairview Health Systems went on strike.
Nurses in other cities have fought similar battles for safe patient staffing and respect on the job. In Philadelphia, 1,500 nurses at Temple University Hospital ended a 28-day strike last month. In California, 4,500 nurses waged a 10-day strike in March 2008.
The non-profit, non-partisan National Bureau of Economic Research released a study in March that analyzes nurses’ strikes in New York between 1984 and 2004, and “suggests that hospitals functioning during nurses’ strikes are doing so at a lower quality of patient care,” according to the abstract.
“Do Strikes Kill? Evidence from New York State,” authored by Jonathan Gruber and Samuel A. Kleiner, finds that in-hospital mortality increased by 19.4 percent during nurses’ strikes, and patients were 6.5 percent more likely to be readmitted within 30 days of release.
Minnesota Nurses Association President Linda Hamilton said nurses are hoping to soften the impact of a potential strike on patients by limiting it to one day. Twin Cities hospitals, though, have refused to rule out a weeklong lockout, saying they need to offer more than one day of work to lure replacement workers to the metro area.
“We want to have the maximum impact on our employers in terms of letting them know Twin Cities nurses are serious about standing up for patient safety,” Hamilton said. “At the same time, a one-day strike has the minimum impact on our patients and the communities served by these hospitals.”
Both sides say they hope to work out a deal before the strike takes place. But the clock is ticking.
Michael Moore edits The Union Advocate, the official publication of the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation. Learn more at www.stpaulunions.org
Related article
Twin Cities nurses to take historic stand for patient safety with video