Minnesota nurses set one-day strike on June 10

The clock is now ticking.

The union representing 12,000 registered nurses in the Twin Cities says it will launch a one-day strike in two weeks if it cannot reach a deal with six hospital chains in the region for a new three-year contract.

At a hastily arranged press conference in St. Paul, the Minnesota Nurses Association said nurses will walk off the job 7 a.m. June 10 to 7 a.m. June 11.

The union and hospitals will resume negotiations with the help of a federal mediator. Nurses are demanding a 3 percent annual wage increase and a dedicated number of nurses per hospital. The union also wants to set a maximum number of patients each nurse can care for based on the severity of the patient’s condition.

“Our [past] negotiations have not gone very well,” said Sydney Olson, a union negotiator and an intensive care nurse at St. John’s Hospital in Maplewood. “We’re willing to come back with a mediator. I hope the hospitals heard what the nurses said last week” when 90 percent voted to reject the hospitals’ contract offer and authorize a one-day strike.

Hospital officials argue the weak economy, lower Medicare payments and falling patient admissions requires them to cut costs and boost efficiency, such as flexibility in work rules that govern staffing levels.