The Minnesota Nurses Association says that on Labor Day nearly 5,000 of its members will walk off their jobs in an open-ended strike against five Allina Health hospitals in the Twin Cities.

The union says it filed its required 10-day intent to strike notice early Friday morning.

The nurses are at odds with Allina over management's effort to move them onto its corporate health plans which include more cost-sharing than the current nurses-only plans.

In June, nurses held a one-week strike. The union hopes the upcoming open-ended strike will apply more pressure on Allina.

Allina spokesperson David Kanihan says another strike will not help efforts to settle the dispute.

"We're very disappointed that the nurses union choose the path of walking away from patient care instead of trying to find a reasonable solution to the health insurance issues at the center of this contract dispute," he said.

Union officials say the workers will walk off their jobs at 7 a.m. Sept. 5 at Abbott Northwestern Hospital, the Phillips Eye Institute and Mercy, United and Unity Hospitals.

Allina has said if there is a strike, it intends to operate those facilities with replacement nurses.

Original Post: https://www.mprnews.org/story/2016/08/26/allina-nurses-open-ended-strike-labor-day