Twin Cities nurses have averted a strike, and today, they and the hospitals they fought long and hard with on the issue of staffing ratios and patient safety have agreed to a contract ratification. Bittersweet for the nurses. They did not have to go through what was (for some) an indignity, further exacerbating what was amounting to an increasingly newsworthy credibility gap among patients and families; but they did concede their signature issue — and some see that as a political and PR loss.

[Union negotiator Kevin] Campbell said he realized at that point that the hospitals were not prepared to discuss staffing the way the union hoped. In that case, he said, “it is not in the best interest of nurses or patients to pursue it.”He said the union would turn to the Legislature for help, as nurses successfully did in California. “They could end up like California, where the Legislature crammed it down their throats,” he said.

That’s right. The next step for the MNA could be the MN state legislature. Seems like its time for all three Dem candidates to start stumping for union votes right here ahead of next month’s primary if the nursing bargaining unit has a shot in ultimately getting what it set out to do, even if caution and dignity have fallen by the wayside. | LINK

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