A potential strike involving thousands of Twin Cities nurses has been averted after the Minnesota Nurses Association announced a tentative agreement with several local healthcare providers.
This breakthrough follows months of negotiations, offering a path forward for approximately 13,000 nurses at major hospitals like Allina Health, Children's Minnesota, and M Health Fairview.
Nurse negotiator Victoria Zeehandelaar was among those who worked all night to get to this point
"It's a little bittersweet," says Zeehandelaar, "but, overall we're very excited with what we were able to do."
She says they're pleased with agreements that were reached over workplace violence and compensation, but didn't get what they wanted in terms of staffing ratios.
The MNA says thousands of metro health care workers have been without a contract for months.
The new, tentative agreement must still be ratified. Nurses and other providers in Duluth, meanwhile, are still set to strike next week.