15,000 Minnesota Nurses Went On Strike, But Why?

Last week around 15,000 nurses at 15 hospitals in our state went on strike for three days. It’s the largest private-sector strike of nurses in… well… ever in the United States. What’s going on here? 

 

Here’s Five Fast Facts on Minnesota’s Nurses’ Strike

  1. 🏥What Do They Want? - COVID really threw a wrench in things and the nurses feel they’ve taken the hit. They’re asking for better working conditions, more staff, better treatment and a 27-30% pay increase. 
  2. 🚑What Did the Hospitals Say  - They offered the nurses a 10-12% raise over three years, saying that the demands are just too high and they’d have to pass increased costs off to patients. 
  3. 😷How Did The Nurses Handle That? - They offered to come down on their wage request if the hospitals were to at least meet their demands for staffing.
  4. ⚕️Why Three Days? - The nurses’ union was required to give a 10-day notice to the hospitals. They voted on how long they wanted to walk out for, to make a point, and decided on three days. They didn’t want to go longer because of their patients.
  5. 👩‍⚕️Who was taking care of the patients? - Don’t worry. Hospitals hired travel nurses (who, oddly enough, get paid more than “regular” nurses) to take care of things. 

🔥Bottom line: From the sound of things, this strike is the alarm bell and an example for other nurses unions across the country who are now contemplating strikes of their own. Nursing is at a critical point in the country and if something doesn’t get fixed, nurses will leave the field and the healthcare system may just collapse.

What do you think of the strike?

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