More than 60 hospice nurses picketed outside Abbott Northwestern Hospital on Wednesday, Sept. 16, demanding overtime pay and holiday and weekend pay from Allina Health as bargaining talks stretched past the one-year mark. The hospice nurses’ seven-day strike overlapped with 150 unionized doctors’ historic four-day walkout.
Following the walkout, the Doctors Council agreed to a tentative deal with Allina on Sept. 22. The Doctors Council will vote on ratifying the contract before it takes effect.
SEIU Healthcare Minnesota & Iowa, representing the hospice nurses, says its members have been stretched thin providing end-of-life care while being asked to do more work with fewer resources. Phillip Cryan, executive vice president of SEIU Healthcare Minnesota and Iowa, said pay is the remaining item under negotiation…