5,000 Allina Health nurses to strike in Minnesota over health plan changes
Nurses said health plan would have put too much burden for cost increases on nurses.
Nurses are protesting Allina Health benefits changes. (MNA via Twitter)
More than 5,000 nurses working for Allina Health in Minnesota voted Thursday to launch an indefinite strike over the company's plan to change their health benefits.
Allina planned to change health plans for nurses, who are represented by the Minnesota Nurses Association, to the same ones other Allina employees are offered. However, that would have come with increases in premiums and deductibles.
MNA said about 66 percent of the nurses voted to strike, though the group has not set a date for when the walk-off will take place.
[Also: Nurses strike averted at Brigham and Women's Hospital]
"On August 1, nurses attempted to meet the employer halfway by agreeing to end two of their four affordable healthcare plans and raise the deductibles and out-of-pocket costs for 4,000 nurses," MNA said in a statement. "Allina Health responded with a proposal that caps the company's contribution toward premiums and puts the burden of cost increases almost solely on the nurses. Allina also insisted that the two existing plans be terminated if enrollment dips below 1,000 participants. Nurses rejected this offer."
Allina, however, said the nurses offer did not meet them halfway.
"Only 5 percent of those enrolled in the nurse-only plans are on the two plans the union proposed to eliminate," the health system said on its website. Also, "the union's proposal to pool the risk experience would result in all other benefits-enrolled employees subsidizing the increasing costs of the outdated nurse-only plans," Allina said.
The benefits were not the only issue over the proposed 2016-2019 contract. According to MNA, nurses were disappointed that Allina was not offering them training for dealing with workplace violence.
According to a 2015 study by the Journal of Emergency Nursing, nearly 75 percent of nurses in 2014 experience a workplace violence, which can range from verbal abuse to physical assaults.
The strike will affect Allina's Abbott Northwestern and Phillips Eye Institute, Mercy, Unity and United hospitals, but the healthcare provider said it will bring in outside nurses to staff those facilities during the strike.
"Our goal is to return to the bargaining table and continue negotiating in good faith to come to an agreement that is fair to our nurses, employees and the communities we serve," Allina said.
Twitter: @HenryPowderly
Contact the author: henry.powderly@himssmedia.com
