Talking Points: 3-day Minnesota nurses strike set to begin Monday morning

MINNEAPOLIS -- The three-day Minnesota nurses strike appears to be on for Monday morning.

At 7 a.m. Monday, 15,000 nurses are scheduled to strike against 16 major hospitals in the Twin Cities, Moose Lake and Duluth. Leaders said this is the largest nursing strike in U.S. history. 

Seven health providers will be affected: M Health Fairview, Essentia, Health Partners, Allina Health, Children's, North Memorial and St. Luke's.

In Sunday's Talking Points, Esme Murphy shows us how the pandemic is affecting labor tension as the strike is set to begin.

The Twin Cities has long been home to activism by registered nurses. 

In 2010, Minnesota saw what was at the time the largest nurses strike in the country, with 12,000 nurses walking off the job for one day. In 2017, nurses at Allina health went on strike for 44 days. Among the issues then: staffing salaries and workplace safety.

Those are essentially the basic issues involved in this year's labor dispute. Pay seems to be the biggest chasm between the two sides, with the nurses asking for a 30% pay hike over the next three years. The 16 hospitals in the Twin Cities, Moose Lake and Duluth are responding with a 12% increase spread over three years.

RELATED: 15,000 Minnesota nurses to strike for three days starting Sept. 12

A survey conducted by the nurses found that adverse events have risen 33% in the pandemic years. Most of those adverse events were falls or bed sores, with staffing problems and are being blamed on staffing shortages.

The Minnesota Nurses Association says the pandemic really took its toll, with more than half of nurses considering leaving the profession right now.

Mary Turner, president of the Minnesota Nurses Association, was a guest on WCCO 10:30 a.m. Sunday Morning show.

"Every task that we had to do became 10 times harder because of the fact that we had to wear all of the personal protective equipment," she said. "If you had to quickly go in there to save them from falling, there was not of this 'just quickly get in there,' because you had to stop and get all of your isolation garb on. So it made it in some respects a dangerous situation."

Hospitals insist that the nurses' demands are not realistic and that hospitals are facing increased financial pressure from treating people who are not insured or underinsured.

Paul Omodt, spokesperson for the Twin Cities Hospital Group, told WCCO Sunday morning that "at this point the nurses are continuing their rush to a strike."

Omodt says there are no talks scheduled.

"This is the nurses' choice," he said.

Omodt says all the hospitals will remain open and that replacement nurses are being brought on.

Omodt said patients should expect longer wait times but that every patient will be cared for.

You can watch WCCO Sunday morning at 10:30 a.m. with Esme Murphy and Mike Augustyniak every Sunday