Nurses union strikes deal with hospitals [View All]

[Omaha Steve]

http://twincities.bizjournals.com/twincities/stories/2007/05/07/daily41.html?jst=s_cn_hl

Friday, May 11, 2007

Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal - by Carissa Wyant Staff Writer

A Twin Cities nurses union struck a tentative agreement with five hospitals Thursday.

The Minnesota Nurses Association, which represents almost 11,000 registered nurses in the metro area, negotiated terms including an 11 percent raise over three years, status quo on health plans and added input concerning issues such as nurse-patient ratios.

The systems and their hospitals included in the deal are: Allina, with Abbott Northwestern, Unity and Mercy hospitals and the Phillips Eye Institute; Fairview, with Fairview Southdale Hospital and the University of Minnesota Medical Center, Riverside campus; Children's Hospitals in Minneapolis and St. Paul; HealthEast, with Bethesda Rehabilitation and St. Joseph's and St. John's hospitals; Methodist Hospital, and North Memorial Medical Center.

Union spokeswoman Jan Rabbers called the negotiations " tense" , but said in an interview that the union was satisfied with the end results. Rabbers said that while the various contracts with the different hospital systems are not identical, they do contain the same raises, health coverage and nursing-practices language, and the union's pension plan remained unchanged.

The deal with Allina was reached earlier this week.

The deal still has to be approved by members , who will vote Monday through Thursday. Rabbers said " We will know the full tally late Thursday afternoon", and approval requires a majority vote.