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Business North - The Daily Briefing - Business Newspaper Online
Nurses protest staffing levels
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7/14/2010 by Ron Brochu |
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Nurses from Duluth and other cities conducted an informational picket Monday outside St. Mary's Medical Center to protest staffing levels their union contends are unsafe.
"Nurses believe patients in Duluth deserve the same care as anywhere else in Minnesota," Linda Hamilton, president of the Minnesota Nurses Association, said during the rally. Duluth staffing levels, she said, are lower than in the Twin Cities.
In a news release issued last week, registered nurse Steve Strand said St. Mary's and Miller Dwan medical centers had more than 800 open nursing shifts over a four-week period from mid-June to mid-July. Staffing levels don't even meet self-imposed standards at St. Mary's, Hamilton said Monday.
Due to constant overtime demands, "We're just getting tired," said RN Dolly Dahl, who is a Minnesota Nurses Association negotiator during the ongoing contract talks.
St. Mary's nurses aren't required to work overtime shifts, Hamilton said, but "nurses frequently are guilted into working overtime."
More than 1,300 Duluth nurses at St. Mary's and St. Luke's are in the midst of negotiations with hospital management regarding a new labor agreement. Their current contract expired on July 1. Each hospital has a separate contact with its unionized nurses.
"As with any set of contract negotiations, there are economic issues involved, but far and away the most pressing issue is what to do about these unsafe staffing conditions," Kristi Hendrickson, an RN at St. Luke's Hospital, said last week in the MNA press release.
Hamilton, however, conceded that Minnesota does not have formal standards to regulate the nurse-patient ratio. Although Twin Cities nurses sought to add such language to their recently-settled contract, it was not included in the final settlement, she said.
"We're working throughout the country to establish standards," she said. "Nurses are working together. We're solid on this issue."
A similar picket will be established outside of St. Lukes Hospital in the next few weeks, MNA representatives said.
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