Contracts covering registered nurses organized by the Minnesota Nurses Association expired June 1 at 12 area hospitals. The deadline was extended through June 3 for last-minute negotiations and voting. Hospital management organized to bring in 4,000 strikebreakers to replace the 7,800 nurses affected by the contracts, including 400 brought into Fairview as nurses walked off the job and set up the picket line. Contracts were approved at hospitals other than those in the Fairview system.

Picket signs reading, "I believe nurses, safe care now," "Nurses stand for patients," "Short staffed nurses means short changed patients," and "Replacement nurses are union busting, clear and simple!"

One of the biggest questions facing the nurses is the number of patients they are responsible for and the number of hours they are forced to work. Cheryl Johnson, president of United American Nurses who works in a hospital in Michigan, told a May 31 rally of 500 here that in the 29 years as a nurse she "has never worked like this before and there is no reason for it. There is plenty of money out there for nursing staff. We, as nurses, want to let the public know that there is a health-care crisis."

Sue Buesgens, a nurse and chair of the Fairview negotiating committee, said hospital management proposed a contract that would have nurses paying up to $300 a month for health insurance if they have dependents.

The proposal from the hospital on staffing was to set up a committee of union nurses, doctors, and management to examine patient flow. Karen Myers, a nurse at Fairview, said she rejected the proposal because "it’s just a committee, it’s just talk." Nurses say they want control over staffing the floors. Hourly wage increases were won at area hospitals and ranged from 18 percent to 20 percent over the three years of the contract.  
 
 
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