Nurses in three states deal with strike negotiations

While some argue the Minnesota nurses' strike could be negatively affecting patient care, nurses in California are set to walk out of their own jobs.

At least one replacement nurse filling in for Minnesota Nurses Association members in the Twin Cities has said quality of patient care is suffering during the strike.

One of the 1,400 nurses brought in to replace the 5,000 striking nurses from the Allina Health System hospitals for the week, Tracy Mitchum quit the temporary job and even briefly joined Allina nurses’ picket lines. She claimed some of the replacement nurses aren’t properly trained.

“There are some nurses working out of their scope of practice that are completely lost,” she told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

The newspaper reported other technicians and nursing assistants also raised concern about the patients.

But Allina representatives said Mitchum was asked to leave and that the patients at the five affected healthcare facilities are receiving normal levels of care. The state sent investigators to the hospitals, but the Star-Tribune said those reports won’t be available for weeks.

The MNA members started their seven-day strike June 19 in a protest over healthcare costs and working conditions not addressed in their new contract negotiations.

And a group of 1,300 Kaiser Permanente nurses at the Los Angeles Medical Center set a week-long strike to begin June 23, according to the Los Angeles Times. The nurses say staffing levels aren’t high enough and are negatively affecting work conditions and patient care, and they want higher wages.

The nurses already striked over similar issues in March, but the two parties weren’t able to resolve their issues, and Kaiser said in a statement it isn’t sure exactly what the nurses want.

In Boston, nurses at Brigham and Women’s Hospital could stage a one-day walkout June 27 if a contract negotiation meeting scheduled for June 24 between the union and hospital owner Partners HealthCare don’t go well. The two parties disagree on health plans and staffing levels.

According to the Boston Globe, the hospital would hire 700 replacement nurses to keep the facility running at 60 percent capacity. They’d still be able to deliver babies at the normal rate.