MNA Negotiation Updates
Robbinsdale Hospital, Air Care and Hospice nurses
Email communications
On Tuesday, April 15, the North Memorial Health bargaining team met with the Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) for the third day of negotiations. No tentative agreements were made yesterday, although we did discuss a number of key topics and proposals:
- The union presented a petition for observers, and we do not think this creates a productive negotiation environment.
- The union presented their wage proposal of 18% over three years along with a number of other economic proposals that would be financially devastating for us to agree to.
- We discussed workplace safety; a topic we agree is very important to all team members.
- We discussed counter proposals dealing with a request for information from the MNA and salary experience credits.
On April 8, the North Memorial Health bargaining team met with the Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) for the second day of negotiations. The session took place at the Robbinsdale Medical Building, and the group agreed to continue meeting at this location for future negotiation sessions – as the space worked well for both parties and avoids the significant costs associated with renting hotel meeting space as had been done in the past. The topic of meeting locations has been ongoing with the union, so we are pleased to have aligned on a common location.
The second day of negotiations with the MNA was again collaborative, and we were able to have a productive conversation. However, we are disappointed that the union continues to deploy delay tactics throughout this process. This includes the MNA’s refusal to provide a wage proposal, with union leaders saying only that they would “talk about it at a later date.” Without a complete view of all proposals from the union, particularly economic proposals, it will be increasingly difficult to discuss any parameters of the contract, and negotiations will stall. We cannot come to a timely and complete agreement without details for all of the union’s proposals.
North Memorial Health met with the MNA on April 3 for the parties’ first day of negotiations. The session yesterday was cordial and productive, with the parties entering into five tentative agreements around topics such as clarifying contract language and updating shift times.
North is disappointed that MNA continues to refuse to present its wage proposal. Although the contract language provides that the parties must exchange their proposals by March 15, MNA has refused to do so. It appears the union is engaging in the same types of delay tactics that they employed during previous contract negotiations. We cannot bargain effectively and productively without understanding the nurses’ interests and full set of proposals. North remains committed to reaching a fair and final agreement before the current contract expires.
The first proposal exchange occurred yesterday between the Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) union and the North Memorial Health bargaining team. This is the first step in our contract negotiations with the union to determine the terms of the next three-year contract for MNA nurses at Robbinsdale Hospital, Air Care and Hospice. We expect the first bargaining session to be held on April 3.
North presented all 24 of its proposals to the union as required by our contract. MNA gave us 33 proposals and told us they would have 10 more, but they declined to provide them to us. Instead, they gave us 10 blank “placeholders” that contained only a title page. We do not understand why they did this, and we are disappointed that the Union appears to be engaging in the same types of delay tactics that it employed during the 2022 contract negotiations, which resulted in negotiations being drawn out over a 10-month period.