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By Tom Scheck, Minnesota Public Radio
June 5, 2001
Officials with the Minnesota Nurses Association and Allina Health Systems say they'll meet again to "explore options" regarding the recount of votes by nurses at Abbott Northwestern Hospital and the Phillips Eye Institute in Minneapolis. The union says it conducted three recounts of the ratification of the vote on Sunday and would only say the tally "was in doubt." The union did recounts at two other hospitals as well and say they turned up no discrepancies.
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NEITHER THE UNION nor Allina Hospitals will give much detail about the recounts in question. The MNA's Jan Rabbers says the union counted the 1,250 votes twice on Saturday night before they announced the ratification. After about 10 nurses questioned the results, Rabbers says they conducted three more recounts on Sunday night, but wouldn't go into detail about any problems.
Abbott Northwestern President Mark Dixon said both sides are eager to resolve the issue. "This is a very complicated situation," he said. "The MNA has indicated to us that the results of the vote are in doubt, and having said that, we all want to stay focused on getting to a resolution for this issue for our patients, for our community, for our employees, for our nurses."
The University of Minnesota's John Budd, an industrial relations professor, says it's likely that two things could have happened: union officials probably discovered problems with individual ballots or counted more votes than eligible voters. Budd says such problems are rare, but have happened during other contract votes. He says the union, its membership and the hospitals have to be patient.
"I don't think the hospitals or those who voted for the contract would welcome this scenario. I think it's important for everyone that everyone be satisfied that the results are legitimate. That in the long-run will really help move the process forward," Budd says.
Throughout the labor contract, the nurses at the two hospitals voted to strike in mid-May, then prepared to walk off the job, only to be told that they had to go back to work, hours before the strike deadline. Now many don't know if they'll be working or on the picket line.
"It just brings back memories of Florida and the presidential election," said Lisa Lewis, a nurse at Abbott Northwestern. She isn't surprised that some nurses at the two hospitals asked for the recount. She didn't like the final contract offer and voted against the proposal. "My impression was that the majority would probably vote to strike, so I was a little surprised by that they didn't."
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Meanwhile, about 1,500 nurses at Fairview Southdale in Edina and the Fairview University Medical Center are still walking the picket line. Out of the 13 hospitals up for new contracts in the Twin Cities this year, nurses at Fairview are the only ones off the job after rejecting a 19.8-percent salary increase over three years.
Many nurses, like Fairview Southdale oncology nurse Aaron Henne, say they're ready to stay out on the picket line for as long as it takes. "We tried to prepare for this the best that we could. All of my family, in laws and what not, have been helpful. This is a major lose-lose situation and one thing this hospital doesn't seem to understand is that if those goes beyond two or three weeks , they're probably going to lose probably 20 percent of their nurses permanently and they're never going to be able to get them back."
Fairview officials say they hope the federal mediator calls the two sides back to the bargaining table as soon as possible.
Fairview Southdale Chief of Staff, Dr. Kevin Nelson, made a statement to reporters, but took no questions. He says the hospitals are running smoothly with replacement nurses. "The hospitals remain open; we're caring for patients..."
The state health department says it will conduct daily inspections of the two hospitals to make sure patient care isn't compromised.
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