15,000 Union Nurses in Minnesota Walk Out on Strike Protesting Low Wages and Understaffing
About 15,000 union nurses at 15 hospitals across seven different health systems in Minnesota have walked off the job, protesting understaffing and overwork in what’s believed to be the biggest strike of private-sector nurses in U.S. history.
The Minnesota Nurses Association had voted to authorize a strike last month, and announced in early September that the strike will begin on Sept. 12. The strike, slated to last three days, will run from Monday, 7 a.m., through Thursday, 7 a.m. Nurses are complaining about low pay, a dearth of resources, and the inability to care for patients properly, such as running wards without lead nurses, and poor shift-scheduling practices….