Hundreds of nurses who work for Aspirus St. Luke’s and Essentia Health joined picket lines in Duluth as Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) contracts for Duluth nurses are set to expire on June 30.

Larissa Hubbartt, a registered nurse at Aspirus St. Luke’s, spoke at a press conference Wednesday morning put a focus on staffing needs.

“St. Luke simply doesn’t hire enough nurses to take care of the patients that we have,” Hubbartt explained. “They don’t have a way to cover for vacation or sick time, or even to do our education. They want nurses to work more shifts. Often, there is no one to help answer phones and call lights, no one to transport patients to and from procedures and tests, no one to help our patients eat when they can’t feed themselves.”

Chief Medical Officer Dr. Nick Van Deelen, with Aspirus St. Luke’s spoke after the MNA press conference and said he hopes they are able to strike a fair and reasonable contract.

“We will provide care for our patients no matter what the circumstance,” explained Van Deelen. “We did it three years ago. If there’s a strike, we will do it again. We certainly hope there’s not a strike. We don’t see any reason for that and we think that’s actually very dangerous for the patients of Minnesota.”

Megan Finnegan, an oncology nurse says they want to have more balanced patient to nurse ratios. They hope to implement the nurse-to-patient dynamic in their new contracts.

“We need our community and our patients to know that what is going on inside our hospital. They need to hear what it really means to work in unsafe staffing conditions, and what it means to be a patient of an unsafely staffed nurse. Nurses are proposing staffing ratios that are based on patient-centered care,” Finnegan said. “Our negotiating team has taken those ratios into consideration while writing our staffing proposals. We, the nurses, believe in taking care of our patients in a safe way, in a flexible and dynamic way, we know we can do a good job, but we want and we need to do it safely.”

Aspirus St. Luke’s also released a statement addressing the MNA’s concerns around staffing.

“Another major challenge in our talks is the union’s insistence on fixed staffing ratios,” read the statement. “We’ve said—both in these discussions and publicly—that we can’t support a rigid system that doesn’t account for things like a nurse’s experience, patient needs, staffing levels, or unexpected absences. We believe a flexible, holistic approach to staffing is essential to delivering safe, high-quality care. “

Leadership from Essentia Health also responded to the nurses picket and the MNA filing charges alleging unfair labor practices.

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“For nearly five months, Essentia has pushed the MNA to work with us on a new agreement,” explained a representative from Essentia Health. “We offered over four dozen (54) potential bargaining dates in April, May and June. The union agreed to just eight of those days, knowing full well it took 26 sessions to reach a deal in 2022. Among the days we initially proposed was today, June 4. The MNA said it wasn’t available. Yet it found time to host informational pickets and news conferences around the state today.”

Essentia Health also address the staffing concerns voiced by the MNA nurses picket.

“Our staffing model is effective and features the flexibility that sustainable, accessible health care delivery demands so we can continue meeting the needs of our patients. Staffing decisions should be driven by patient need, not rigid and arbitrary ratios.”

WDIO News will provide any new updates on whether or not Aspirus St. Luke’s or Essentia Health make an agreement with MNA.