June 25, 2001 - 1,350 nurses from Fairview Riverside in Minneapolis and Fairview Southdale Hospital in Edina will vote on a proposed contract today. The Minnesota Nurses Association and the two hospitals reached a tentative contract agreement early Saturday morning after negotiating for 14 hours on Friday. The nurses have been striking for 23 days and hope the union reached a deal that will make them want to go back to work. Minnesota Public Radio's Tom Scheck reports...
June 14, 2001 - The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has approved a request from Minnesota that allows the state to participate in a federal program that helps cover uninsured children. For the past 3 years, Governor Ventura and officials with the state's Department of Human Services have been lobbying the federal government to approve the funding. Ventura said the federal government was penalizing Minnesota for establishing a program for uninsured children before Congress created its own program in 1997. State officials say the new money will help insure more Minnesotans, but some lawmakers in the state Legislature don't have the same expectations. Minnesota Public Radio's Tom Scheck reports..
June 12, 2001 - More than 13-hundred nurses at Fairview Southdale Hospital in Edina and Fairview Riverside in Minneapolis are beginning their 10th day on strike this morning (Tuesday). A federal mediator has not scheduled new contract talks to end the strike and neither side is showing any signs of resuming negotiations. Minnesota Public Radio's Tom Scheck reports...
June 6, 2001 - Nurses at two Minneapolis hospitals will remain on the job even though they may have rejected a contract proposal last weekend by a single vote. Officials with the Minnesota Nurses Association say they discovered a voting mixup only after telling Allina Health System that nurses at Abbott Northwestern Hospital and the Phillips Eye Institute had ratified the contract. And by then -- from a legal standpoint -- it was too late to correct the mistake. Minnesota Public Radio's Tom Scheck reports...
June 5, 2001 - Nurses at two Minneapolis hospitals will remain on the job even though they may have rejected a contract proposal last weekend by a single vote. Officials with the Minnesota Nurses Association say they discovered a voting mixup only after telling Allina Health System that nurses at Abbott Northwestern Hospital and the Phillips Eye Institute had ratified the contract. And by then -- from a legal standpoint -- it was too late to correct the mistake. Minnesota Public Radio's Tom Scheck reports...
June 5, 2001 - Officials with the Minnesota Nurses Associaiton and Allina Health Systems say they'll meet again today to "explore options" regarding the recount of votes by nurses at Abbott Northwestern Hospital and the Phillips Eye Institute in Minneapolis. The union says it conducted 3 recounts of the ratification of the vote on Sunday and would only say the tally "was in doubt." The union did recounts at two other hospitals as well and say they turned up no discrepencies. Meanwhile, 15-hundred nurses from two Fairview Hospitals continue to walk picket lines. Minnesota Public Radio's Tom Scheck reports...
June 1, 2001 - A scheduled strike by registered nurses at 7 Twin Cities Hospitals is now off after a long night of negotiations. Officials with the Minnesota Nurses Association and 7 Twin Cities hospitals have averted a strike, at least for now. A spokewsoman with the Minnesota Nurses Association says they're delaying their strike plans for most of the hospitals until 5:30 Sunday morning so the nurses can review the new contract proposals from the hospitals and schedule votes for tomorrow. Minnesota Public Radio's Tom Scheck reports...
June 1, 2001 - The Minnesota Nurses' Association is getting ready to present contract proposals from 7 Twin Cities hospitals to 5500 nurses over the next two days. While the bargaining units for the hospitals and the union seem optimistic that the rank and file membership will approve the agreements, some nurses are expressing disappointment. Since the hospitals and union started contract talks in February, nurses have been asking for better working conditions and higher pay. Minnesota Public Radio's Tom Scheck reports...
May 24, 2001 - Negotiators with the Minnesota Nurses Assocation and 12 Twin Cities hospitals will resume talks today (thursday) about a new contract. 7,700 nurses have notified the hospitals that they'll strike if they don't get the contract they want by June first. Both sides are optimistic they can avert a strike if negotiations go well over the next two days. Minnesota Public Radio's Tom Scheck reports...
May 18, 2001 - Nurses at 12 of 13 Twin Cities hospitals have rejected a contract proposal and say they'll strike when their contract runs out on May 31st. Nurses at North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale ratified their contract after hospital management broke ranks with the other hospitals by offering better terms. The union says the vote allows 7700 nurses to strike on June first. They say a voter turnout of more than 80 percent should send a strong message to the hospitals that nurses are prepared to mount the metro area's first major nursing strike since 1984 unless they get a better deal. Minnesota Public Radio's Tom Scheck reports...