DULUTH, Minn. (KFGO) – After nearly four months of what union leaders call contentious bargaining with hospital executives while continuing to provide high quality care and escalating pressure, nurses with the Minnesota Nurses Association in the Twin Cities Metro region reached a tentative agreement with their hospital employers. It resolves the Unfair Labor Practices (ULP) as part of the settlement and successfully avoided a ULP strike.
While the settlement includes a range of updates and changes from the 2022 contract, highlights include new language to implement Minnesota’s new break law, tools to address workplace violence, a raise of 3% in the first year, 4% in the second, and 3% in the third. Nurses faced an uphill battle this year due to significant financial constraints in hospital budgets, largely driven by impending federal Medicaid cuts long signaled as part of the “One Big Beautiful Bill” federal spending act. In one year alone, Minnesota could lose up to $500 million due to federal Medicaid cuts. Around 20% of Minnesotans rely on Medicaid to access care.
The association says nurses were able to successfully fight off employer concessions and secure language to move the contract forward — including issues like safety and patient care. Those gains enabled nurses to reach a final agreement. Nurses remain committed to holding hospitals accountable for maintaining high standards of care, regardless of impending cuts to Medicaid.
“Nurses have always said this fight isn’t just about contracts, it’s about safe care,” said MNA President Chris Rubesch, RN. “We heard from our members loud and clear: staffing levels were the number one priority in these negotiations, for the first time ahead of wages and it will continue to be a principal concern as we move forward caring for our patients in the future.”
Though the Metro campaign has reached a tentative agreement and nurses will soon vote whether to ratify the contract, Nurses in Duluth are set to go on a ULP strike on July 8, continuing the call for the employers to bargain in good faith. Advanced Practice Providers are set to join them on July 10.
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