A strike by nurses at five Allina Health hospitals will start at 7 a.m. Labor Day, according to required 10-day notices their union sent to the health system early this morning.

The walkout will be the second by the Allina nurses since negotiations started in February over a new three-year contract. The nurses had rejected a contract offer from Allina and authorized strike planning in voting last week, but negotiators with the Minnesota Nurses Association opted to wait to set a date pending the outcome of talks that occurred Tuesday.

Union leaders planned to formally announce the strike by as many as 4,800 hospital nurses later Friday morning at a news conference at the Minnesota State Fair, along with leaders from other labor unions in the Twin Cities who also sent notice to Allina that they intend to support the walkout.

A 10-day notice is required so Allina can hire temporary nurses to maintain patient care at Abbott Northwestern Hospital and Phillips Eye Institute in Minneapolis, United Hospital in St. Paul, Mercy Hospital in Coon Rapids, and Unity Hospital in Fridley. When the nurses conducted a seven-day strike in June, Allina recruited 1,400 replacements from around the country to cover the week. The strike cost the health system more than $20 million, according to an Allina financial report.

The newly announced strike is open-ended, meaning that it will start Sept. 5 and continue until a deal is reached. The Global Healthsource and Huffmaster staffing agencies indicate on their web sites that they are currently recruiting nurses to cover an Allina strike.

Allina and its hospital nurses have struggled to agree over health benefits, with the health system initially demanding that the nurses drop their four union-backed health plans and switch to its corporate plans. The transition would save the health system an expected $10 million per year, but nurses have fought to retain the plans, which charge high premiums up front but low costs afterward when nurses and their families get sick and need care.

The two sides agreed to retain two of the union plans, but couldn’t agree on how much the nurses should pay in future cost increases. On Tuesday, they also couldn’t agree on whether new Allina nurses could choose the union plans. With a federal mediator ping-ponging between the two sides, union leaders asked that new nurses at least be given a one-time shot to choose the union plans, but Allina officials declined.

Both sides acknowledge that the union plans would eventually die out without new enrollees and with continued cost increases. Allina officials dislike the union plans, which lack cost controls such as higher deductibles that motivate efficient purchases — such as equivalent generic drugs over more expensive brand name versions.

Workplace safety and nurse-to-patient staffing levels have also been key concerns for nurses in the contract talks.

Original posting: http://www.startribune.com/allina-nurses-set-strike-date/391391811/