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15,000 Minnesota nurses still working without contract as union continues to block strike

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15,000 Minnesota nurses still working without contract as union continues to block strike


It has been over a month since 12,500 Minneapolis-St. Paul nurses’ contracts expired on Could 31, and over two weeks since 2,500 nurses in Duluth, Hastings and different Minnesota cities noticed their contracts expire on June 30. Though numerous liberal and pseudo-left apologists for the Minnesota Nurses Affiliation (MNA) declare the union has “come out swinging” in opposition to the hospital executives, the MNA has confirmed to be the most important impediment to well being care staff combating for secure staffing ranges and wage will increase massive sufficient to guard them from the ravages of inflation.

Picketing nurses at M Well being Fairview on June 1, 2022 [Photo: WSWS]

Violating the essential precept of “no contract, no work” the MNA has blocked strike motion and has not even scheduled a strike authorization vote. As a substitute, it’s persevering with behind-the-scenes talks with the hospital chains, which can’t end in something however one other pro-company deal.

Nicely conscious of the anger of rank-and-file nurses, some Twin Cities hospital methods have proposed 8 % wage will increase in opposition to nurses’ calls for for as a lot as 39 % wage will increase to compensate for many years of wage stagnation and the present inflation charge of 9.1 %. Rejecting nurses’ simply calls for, a spokesperson for Fairview Hospital methods stated the “demand of a 39 % improve for wages and different will increase merely will not be practical nor in the most effective curiosity of our group.”

Why just isn’t in the most effective curiosity of the group to pay nurses sufficient cash to allow them to perform their life-saving work with out worrying whether or not they can preserve a roof over the heads? Paying a residing wage and decreasing workloads would additionally entice way more nurses and nursing college students. Stopping the exodus of burned-out nurses and ending the nursing scarcity is actually within the pursuits of sufferers and well being care staff locally. It is just unrealistic to hospital executives who need to squeeze much more out nurses as a result of they’re extra involved with company revenue than the “group.”

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In accordance with the report by the Star Tribune, the highest executives of Minnesota’s 12 “nonprofits” pocketed hundreds of thousands in pay and different compensation because the pandemic ripped by way of hospitals and nurses and different well being care staff battled COVID-19 and the dearth of PPE. Regardless of administration’s claims that they would scale back government compensation, Craig Samitt, chief government at Blue Cross and Blue Defend of Minnesota, obtained a 108 % improve in 2020 to just about $3.5 million; Essentia Well being, which eradicated 900 jobs, paid CEO David Herman almost $2.8 million in compensation, a rise of 13 %; Mayo Clinic’s Gianrico Farrugia obtained $2.7 million; and Fairview Well being Companies’ James Hereford and Allina Well being’s Penny Wheeler obtained $2.6 million every.

These executives and the highly effective company and monetary pursuits behind them are ruthlessly defending their class pursuits. As a substitute of uniting nurses throughout the state and mobilizing broader sections of staff to interrupt by way of the intransigence of the hospital bosses, the MNA is engaged in impotent public relations stunts. This contains the MNA’s “Sufferers Earlier than Earnings” petition to the executives and boards of a number of hospital methods throughout Minnesota. MNA officers know appeals to the consciences of multimillionaire executives will fall on deaf ears however they need to divert the power of nurses into useless finish appeals, above all, to the Democratic Celebration.

The MNA’s internet web page contains nearly nothing concerning the present wrestle. As a substitute it contains the nugatory statements from numerous Democrats operating for workplace, together with many who confirmed up for photo-ops throughout final month’s “informational picketing” stunt.

However the Democrats, at least the Republicans, have overseen many years of assaults on well being care staff and the suitable to well being care. Obama’s misnamed Inexpensive Care Act did nothing to cut back the domination of the large hospital, insurance coverage, pharmaceutical and medical tools monopolies over well being care. As a substitute it incentivized value reducing, elevated workloads and different assaults on well being care staff.

The pandemic has confirmed past a doubt that each big-business events prioritize revenue over human life. Removed from ending Trump’s herd immunity COVID coverage, Biden has absolutely adopted this homicidal coverage and disarmed the general public within the face of a brand new surge of Omicron subvariants. Each events are chargeable for the lack of a couple of million folks, together with 1000’s of nurses and well being care staff, and the debilitation of hundreds of thousands extra.

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The circumstances of nurses won’t be improved by way of fruitless appeals to corporate-backed politicians or extra “labor-management” staffing committees, such because the one proposed within the “Holding Nurses on the Bedside Act.” In the long run all of those proposals subordinate the wants of well being care staff and sufferers to revenue issues.

An actual battle is important and completely attainable. However the prerequisite of any wrestle is for rank-and-file nurses to take the conduct of the wrestle into their very own fingers. This implies constructing rank-and-file committees, made up of probably the most class-conscious and militant nurses from across the state, to stipulate the calls for that nurses want and elaborate a method to battle for them.

These calls for ought to embrace:

  • An inflation-busting 20 % wage improve every year of the contract, on high of annual cost-of-living changes to counteract inflation.
  • No out-of-pocket prices for household well being care plans.
  • Rent 1000’s of latest nurses to ensure nurse-to-patient ratios, together with 1:1 for the ICU, 1:2 for the IICU and 1:3 for Medsurge.

Nurses should demand a right away strike vote and an finish to backroom negotiations by the MNA. All talks should be live-streamed and overseen by a rank-and-file committee. If the above calls for will not be met by July 24, a statewide strike ought to be launched by July 31.

On the similar time, the rank-and-file committee ought to set up strains of communication with nurses and well being care staff throughout the US and internationally. Of the 265 work stoppages a research by Cornell’s Industrial and Labor Relations recorded in 2021, well being care staff, together with nurses, accounted for 33 % of them. Tens of 1000’s of nurses in California, New York and different states are additionally combating comparable battles.

Earlier this 12 months, rank-and-file nurses organized a motion, unbiased of the unions, to defend Vanderbilt College Medical Heart nurse RaDonda Vaught in opposition to the hassle to scapegoat her for medical errors, that are the results of understaffing and work overloads.

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As a substitute of fruitless and self-defeating appeals to hospital executives and bought-and-paid-for politicians, nurses should attraction to all sections of the working class to assist their battle. Nurses communicate for all of society and have standard assist of their counteroffensive in opposition to the dictates of the banks and companies. The wave of opposition amongst nurses should be translated right into a counteroffensive. Nurses should put together strike motion now, safe the assist of different staff, together with lecturers, manufacturing and repair staff.

This should be mixed with a political wrestle to take revenue out of drugs by nationalizing the foremost well being care monopolies and establishing a socialist medical system.



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Minnesota

An Unusual Airport Is Closing in Minnesota

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An Unusual Airport Is Closing in Minnesota


A small airport with a bigger claim to fame is closing in northern Minnesota after more than a half-century of operation. The Piney-Pinecreek Border Airport is so named because its runway crosses the US-Canada border, reports Minnesota Public Radio. In fact, it’s been hailed as “the world’s first binational airport,” notes the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Despite the bragging rights, however, the airport has been mostly used by hunters and fishermen, and the cost of maintenance has proven to be too much. The airport has a 3,297-foot runway, of which 2,350 feet are in Minnesota and the rest in Canada, per the Grand Forks Herald.

“It’s a tough decision to close an airport ever, but the evidence was all there that now was the time,” says Ryan Gaug of the Minnesota Department of Transportation. The airport opened in 1953 and is one of six now that straddle the border—but only Piney-Pinecreek has a paved runway. “It’s always been the No. 1 fun fact that I’ve shared with friends, family, coworkers, colleagues here at MnDOT,” says Gaug. The agency has jointly owned the airport with the municipality of Piney, Manitoba, in Canada, but the town ended the arrangement because it was unable to meet the cost of maintenance. As such, “a colorful era in the history of Minnesota aviation” ends on Friday, per the Herald. (More Minnesota stories.)

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Two St. Stephen residents involved in injury crash on Highway 55 near Buffalo

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Two St. Stephen residents involved in injury crash on Highway 55 near Buffalo


Two St. Stephen residents were involved in an accident Christmas Eve morning.

The accident took place at roughly 7 a.m. Tuesday at the intersection of Minnesota Highway 55 and Highway 25 in Buffalo, according to the Minnesota State Patrol. Road conditions were listed as wet at the time of the accident.

St. Stephen’s Hunter Merten, 24, and Amber Burns, 25, were heading west on Highway 55 when their Ford F150 collided with a Jeep Grand Cherokee. The Jeep was heading east on Highway 55, and was allegedly turning northbound onto Highway 25 at the time of the accident.

The Jeep’s driver, 22-year-old Dakota Dimond of Maple Lake, was transported to Buffalo Hospital for non-life threatening injuries, according to the incident report. Burns was also taken to the hospital for non-life threatening injuries.

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All persons involved were wearing seatbelts.



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Blackhawks leave Minnesota empty-handed again entering holiday break

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Blackhawks leave Minnesota empty-handed again entering holiday break


ST. PAUL, Minn. — Most NHL arenas have been houses of horror for the Blackhawks in recent seasons, but none more so than the Xcel Energy Center.

The Hawks’ 4-3 loss Monday marked their eighth consecutive defeat in Minnesota, where they haven’t won since the 2018-19 season. The Hawks have lost 14 of 15 games against the Wild in any location since 2020.

Wild defenseman Brock Faber, who narrowly lost out on the Calder Trophy to Hawks star Connor Bedard last season, scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period. The Hawks weren’t able to penetrate the Wild’s 1-1-3 neutral-zone trap very often after that.

The Hawks enter the NHL’s three-day Christmas break with a 12-21-2 record, having dropped back-to-back games since their three-game winning streak.

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‘‘When the game is on the line . . . we’ve got to be willing to go and play offensively,’’ interim coach Anders Sorensen said. ‘‘We sat back a little bit too much there. I thought we did that in the home games we played, but these past two road games, not so much.’’

Sorensen’s system changes have made the Hawks more aggressive to start games, but he agreed that the team subconsciously tends to fall back on conservative habits at times in crucial later-game situations.

So how can they break those habits?

‘‘Talk about it, work on it, show it,’’ Sorensen responded. ‘‘It’s going to be a process, for sure.’’

One bright spot was young forward Frank Nazar bouncing back from a rough outing Saturday against the Flames with a strong performance. Sorensen gave Nazar a season-high 16œ minutes of ice time, and the Hawks generated an 11-5 advantage in scoring chances with him on the ice.

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Nazar also notched his first NHL point of the season with an assist on Nick Foligno’s goal in the second period, although the Wild responded within a minute to tie the score. That continued an ongoing Hawks problem with conceding quick-response goals.

‘‘[I] felt a lot better out there,’’ Nazar said. ‘‘I came back after that [Flames] game wanting to do better and not happy with myself, so [I tried] to do my best today.’’

Bedard, who scored the Hawks’ first goal, now has 11 points in nine games under Sorensen. He’s creeping back toward a point-per-game pace with 30 points in 35 games this season.

Swedish roots

Goalie Arvid Soderblom, the Hawks’ lone Swedish player at the moment, never crossed paths with Sorensen before joining the Hawks’ organization. Soderblom grew up in Gothenburg, which is on the west coast of the country, whereas Sorensen grew up and coached in Sodertalje, a city near Stockholm on the east coast. The cities are about a four-hour drive apart.

Nonetheless, Soderblom has heard that the hockey community throughout Sweden is excited about Sorensen becoming the NHL’s first Swedish-born head coach.

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‘‘Of course, you see it has been recognized at home, and people are happy for him,’’ Soderblom said. ‘‘It’s great for Swedish hockey . . . to show that it’s possible. There’s a lot of great coaches in Sweden, so hopefully he can show the way and we can have some more coaches over here.’’

Kubalik’s decline

Looking back at the 2020 Calder Trophy voting results is a mind-blowing exercise.

The top two finishers were Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar and Canucks defenseman Quinn Hughes, who since have won Norris Trophies. In third was ex-Hawks forward Dominik Kubalik, who now is playing in Switzerland. Behind Kubalik — in fourth place — was Rangers defenseman Adam Fox, who also has turned into a world-class star.

Kubalik’s fall out of the NHL has been as steep as his rise into it. He erupted for 30 goals in 68 games for the Hawks in 2019-20, but he was so awful on the Senators last season that he couldn’t even get an NHL contract as a 28-year-old this past summer.

Notes

The Hawks won’t play again until Friday at the Sabres, who finally snapped their 13-game losing streak with a 7-1 blowout Monday of the Islanders.

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• It seems likely the Hawks will keep Nazar and defenseman Kevin Korchinski in the NHL for the time being, rather than sending them back to the AHL.

Sorensen said Monday, with regard to Korchinski specifically, that he’s ‘‘playing well, so we’ll keep playing him here.’’





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