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The 5,000 registered nurses set to strike next Sunday against Allina Health hospitals in the Twin Cities are among thousands nationwide who are prepared to walk out over patient safety and quality care concerns, National Nurses United said.
Monday night, 3,300 nurses authorized a one-day strike against Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Massachusetts. Earlier, some 1,600 nurses announced strike dates at two locations in California. All are affiliated with National Nurses United, the largest U.S. union of nurses.
“If all the nearly 10,000 RNs walk out, it would represent a national strike of nurses on a series of patient safety and quality care concerns,” the NNU said.
On Monday, a federal mediator brought the Minnesota Nurses Association and Allina Health negotiators back to the table, but no progress was made, the union said in a statement.
“No further negotiating sessions are planned, and the mediator did not indicate another call back to the bargaining table,” the union said.
Nurses will take to the picket lines starting at 7 a.m. Sunday, June 19, at Abbott Northwestern, Mercy, Phillips Eye Institute, United, and Unity hospitals. The union said the walkout will last one week.
In California, some 300 RNs at Watsonville Community Hospital are set to start a two-day strike on Wednesday, June 22. Nurses cite chronic short-staffing, retaliation against RNs who speak out about patient care concerns, and management’s refusal to accept or address RNs’ written documentation of unsafe assignments.
A day later, on Thursday, June 23, some 1,300 RNs are scheduled to begin a four-day strike at Kaiser Permanente’s flagship Southern California hospital, Los Angeles Medical Center. Again, patient care issues are at the center of the dispute, especially inadequate staffing for the hospital’s Tertiary Care center, short staffing for critically ill children in the hospital’s Pediatric Intensive Care Unit and lack of proper staffing to allow nurses to take rest and meal breaks.
The 3,300 registered nurses of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, who are represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association, voted overwhelmingly on Monday to authorize a one-day strike.
The union said 2,460 nurses cast ballots, with the nurses voting 2,345 to 115 (95 percent) in favor of the strike authorization – the largest nurses’ strike vote in Massachusetts history.
“Brigham nurses spoke loud and clear today. They are taking a stand for the Brigham Way, for nursing excellence and safe patient care,” said Trish Powers, RN OR staff nurse and chair of the Massachusetts Nurses Association BWH bargaining unit. “There is no justification for the hospital’s stance in these negotiations. When a corporation makes billions of dollars in revenue and hundreds of millions in profits, there is no reason why it should reduce nurse staffing, impact the quality of care for our patients and reduce nurse benefits.”
No date has been set yet for a one-day strike.