After another round of failed contract negotiations, the Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) will vote whether to go on strike again on November 30th. Since the last walkout, two more hospitals have joined in the call for action. Nurses in Moose Lake are demanding that Essentia negotiate a new contract after they ignored the previous contract and let it expire in 2021. Nurses at St. Luke’s Lakeview facility have been working without a contract since September 30th. This means that many of the nurses in the MNA have been working throughout the pandemic with critical staffing shortages and no contracts. The previous strike on September 12-14th was the largest private healthcare walkout in our country’s history. Despite historic turnout and widespread public support, hospital management and owners remain unmoved and the nurses have yet to receive a fair contract.
Many people have referred to nurses as “essential workers,” but we at the Labor United Educational League (LUEL) firmly believe it. It is time for the owners and management of the hospitals to stand behind their rhetoric. For the sake of both the patients and the nurses, the workers’ demands must be quickly codified into a fair contract. Nurses have been forced to do more with less for too long, and patient care has suffered for it.
Heartland LUEL stands with the nurses, and calls on the hospital management to meet the demands of the MNA. We will continue to support the nurses in their struggle to make their voices heard. Should the nurses choose to strike on the 30th, we will walk the picket line with them.
Solidarity with the MNA!
Patients before profits!
In Unity,
Labor United Educational League (LUEL)
Heartland Chapter
