Mediators call back Duluth nurses, executives to bargaining table

Federal mediators have called nurses and business executives at two Minnesota, hospitals back to the bargaining table next week.

Earlier this week, 1,300 nurses in Duluth overwhelmingly voted to approve a one-day walkout to protest stalled contract negotiations with St. Luke’s Hospital and St. Mary’s Medical Center.

At issue are two patient safety issues, according to the Minnesota Nurses Association: the option for a nurse to refuse an unsafe patient assignment, and the ability of a nurse to temporarily close his or her unit to new admissions during an unsafe staffing situation.

Nurses in the Twin Cities have had language in their contracts since the late 1990s that gives registered nurses the ability to do both of these things. Even so, Twin Cities hospitals and 12,000 nurses narrowly avoided a strike two months ago after giving in on the critical issue of staffing ratios.