More than 12,000 Minnesota nurses could go on strike if a contract agreement with six Twin City hospitals systems is not reached before June 1.
Roughly ninety percent of the nurses who voted on the contract offer last week opposed the proposal set forward by the hospitals, which represent 14 facilities in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. Opposition was based more on lack of adequate staffing than pay issues.
If the walk-out happens it would be one of the largest nursing strikes in U.S.
According to a statement released by the Minnesota Nurses Association, the vote against the contract was based on a concern over patient safety. To minimize patient risk, any strike would be scheduled for a single day.
In the contract offered to the nurses, the hospitals proposed a plan of sending nurses home on “low-need” days and calling more nurses into work on busier ones. The hospitals said that adding more nursing hours would further increase the already high cost of hospital care.