The American newspaper “The Hill” quoted a statement issued by the Minnesota Nurses Association, that “the strike – which includes thousands of people – may be the largest strike of private sector nurses in the history of the country.”
The association said that nurses in 16 hospitals in the state mobilized on Sunday evening, and began a strike on Monday morning and extends for three days, following months of contract negotiations with hospital administrators.
Minnesota nurses are demanding safer working conditions, better nurse retention, and safer employment systems.
“Corporate healthcare policies in our hospitals have left nurses understaffed and overworked, while patients are overcharged, hospitals and local services are closed, and CEOs are taking millions of dollars in salaries,” said Chris Rubish, senior vice president of the Minnesota Nurses Association. “.
The association reported that hospital executives had seen huge pay increases but offered nurses an average increase of 4 per cent annually, “well below the current rate of inflation and the rising cost of living”.
Nurses demanded a pay increase of regarding 30 percent over three years, while hospitals offered regarding 10 percent.
Research shows that patient care is being negatively affected by health care worker strikes, and affected hospitals have begun planning to train temporary nurses to deal with the fallout from 15,000 strikers who leave their work to protest.
An opinion poll – conducted by the National Nurses Union earlier this year – showed that nurses, two years following the spread of the “Covid-19” pandemic, are concerned regarding employment issues and an increase in violence in the workplace.
Nearly 70 percent of nurses said the staffing shortage had worsened since the pandemic, and more than a quarter of nurses said they had been assigned to work with skills they did not possess.
A recent study suggests that the United States might face a workforce gap of 450,000 nurses by 2025.