The voice of Saint Paul's working families since 1897
Twin Cities community members overwhelmingly supported Allina nurses during their historic strike last year. Today, members of the Minnesota Nurses Association offered a thank-you gift for that support, purchasing and forgiving the past-due accounts of 1,800 families facing a combined $2.6 million in medical debt. MNA, a union of more than 20,000 registered nurses, located […]
Striking nurses will take down picket lines outside five Twin Cities facilities tonight after their bargaining team reached a tentative agreement with Allina Health on a three-year contract early this morning. Nurses will take a ratification vote Thursday. Their approval would trigger a separate agreement, also reached during overnight talks hosted by Gov. Mark Dayton […]
Last month at the East Side Freedom Library, I joined a roundtable discussion with historians, artists, trade unionists and community activists on the subject of solidarity. It was a lively, challenging and essential dialogue, and it served as another reminder of how fortunate we are in St. Paul to have a space like the […]
Striking nurses poured into the streets of downtown St. Paul today and joined a boisterous, traffic-snarling rally outside Securian Center, the high-rise building that houses Allina Health board member David Kuplic’s offices. Kuplic, a senior vice president at Securian, refused to meet with a delegation of nurses who entered the high-rise office building at 4th […]
Striking nurses will vote Monday on a three-year contract proposal from Allina that makes some gains on staffing and safety – two of their top issues – but wasn’t good enough to win a recommendation from the union’s bargaining team. Nurses fought tooth and nail with Allina over the course of mediated talks this week […]
The president of a major Minnesota union sent a letter this week to members enrolled in its health insurance plans urging them to “go elsewhere for health care” during the Allina strike. Jennifer Christensen, president of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1189, cited concerns about “quality control” and patient safety at five Allina Health […]
When Celeste Kopacek’s patient in the neuroscience unit at Abbott Northwestern Hospital told her he was going home to get his gun and would come back to find her, she reported the threat to Allina security. “They told me to call back if he showed up,” Kopacek said. Since contract negotiations with Allina began […]
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