While it is no surprise that the latest negotiations among Twin Cities hospitals and the area’s nursing mega-union have broken down, what is somewhat startling — even sobering — among players in both sides is the reality that, in just a week, they will have to adjust for a walkout whose implications on staffing, healthcare delivery, and (most important) the cost of modifying for these factors will be felt far and wide. With just the hint that the motivations behind the strike may be a little more political on the side of nursing, its rep. is abandoning advocating for changes, among other matters, to pension benefits in favor of the primary reason for striking in the first place — their contention that burdensome staffing ratios need to cease.

Nurse-to-patient staffing ratios are the key issues for the union. The MNA says nurses are stretched too thin, and patient safety is at risk. Nurses have proposed cementing ratios in their contract, but the hospitals have rejected it, saying that it would cost them $250 million year without evidence that it improves the quality of patient care.

With a walkout all but certain, the local media appear to be focusing on the effect scabs will have on strike numbers because of the potential of the hospitals to absorb the long-term cost of replacements on their end. | LINK

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