North Memorial Nurses Picket Over Contract Fight
Nurses across Minnesota hit the pavement this week to highlight their ongoing contract fight with hospital executives.
Staff at North Memorial Health in Robbinsdale were among those picketing.
“Management expects more of us, and to do less with more,” said Joseph Steiger, a registered nurse at North Memorial Health. “All the tasks that they want us to do, there is no possible way for us to do everything that we actually need to do to fully be there to care for our patients.”
An informational picket in front of North Memorial on Wednesday was one of 11 held at hospitals around the Twin Cities and Duluth on Wednesday.
Nurses from North Memorial Health in Robbinsdale hold an informational picket in front of the hospital on June 4.
The contract for Twin Cities nurses expired on May 31.
Staffing levels and employee safety are among the biggest issues in the bargaining process, according to the Minnesota Nurses Association.
“So there’s not a nurse shortage, there is a shortage of nurses that are willing to work in the conditions that the hospitals are putting us in,” said Steiger.
In response, the Twin Cities Hospitals Group provided this statement:
The nurses’ union is expending considerable energy on events such as this when that energy would be better spent at the negotiating table, completing these talks. There are important topics that remain to be discussed, and we remain ready to negotiate in good faith. We encourage the nurses’ union to bring forth all the counterproposals that are due to move these talks forward.”
Related: North Memorial Health CEO: Robbinsdale Hospital at Financial ‘Breaking Point’
