Daniel Haehn is only 10 months old, but he's already a veteran picketer. Daniel and his mother, Janelle, walk regular picket duty with Daniel's striking grandmother, Bonnie Seeman, outside Fairview-Riverside hospital.

'I support Gramma,' reads a sign on Daniel's stroller.

As a birthplace nurse, Seeman and her co-worker, Pam Cherucheril, have been 'grandmas' to thousands of babies born at Fairview Riverside. 'We take care of the babies and the moms,' said Seeman.

Together, the two nurses have 75 years' experience in nursing. Both are veterans of the 1984 strike by 6,000 Twin Cities nurses. Wages and pensions were the major issues in that walkout, they recalled. 'This time safe staffing is the big issue,' said Cherucheril.

Cherucheril and Seeman are among 1,350 members of the Minnesota Nurses Association on strike at Fairview Health Systems since June 3. They said they are heartened by support they have received from other nurses and the public.

On the picketline
Linda Walther was among the supporters joining Fairview nurses on the picketline at the Riverside hospital. She and her co-workers at Hennepin County Medical Center cannot strike because they are public employees, but they face many of the same issues, she said.

'What they (the strikers) do really affects the whole community of nurses,' Walther said. Issues such as safe patient care, staffing levels and adequate compensation are problems throughout the entire health care system, the HCMC nurses said.

Other picketline support has come from several legislators and members of many different unions. Donations also are coming into a strike fund for the Fairview nurses, the union said.

A benefit for the Fairview strikers has been scheduled for Thursday, June 21, from 6 to 9 p.m. in the parking lot of the MNA headquarters, 1625 Energy Park Dr., St. Paul (corner of Snelling Ave. and Energy Park Dr.) 'Funds for Fairview' will feature food, music and guest speakers

Fairview nurses met June 13 to discuss how the walkout is going and to hear updates about the strike fund and other support, the MNA said.

The strikers said they are 'fully committed to their goals to achieve effective staffing language, adequate insurance benefits and wages designed to attract and retain nurses,' an MNA spokewoman said.

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For updates on bargaining and nurses' issues

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