MPR: The other nurses' strike

The other nurses' strike
By Tim Post, Minnesota Public Radio
June 26, 2001

While the Twin Cities nurses' strike lasted 23 days, a group of nurses in Alexandria has been on strike for nearly two years. Twenty-three licensed practical nurses walked off the job at the Alexandria Clinic in September 1999; they are still on strike and their labor dispute could continue for years.

"When we went to negotiations in '99. it was just incredible," says Jo Radil, one of the striking LPNs, who says she and her colleagues negotiated for a raise and preservation of their health benefits. "I'd never dealt with such bull-headed people in my whole life."

YOU WON'T SEE ANY STRIKERS walking the picket lines outside of the Alexandria Clinic. There are no signs of a labor dispute that saw its initial burst of public attention almost two years ago.

It started in the summer of 1999, when LPNs at the clinic voted in favor of union representation by the Minnesota Licensed Practical Nurses Association. They wanted some support as they headed into negotiations.

"When we went to negotiations in '99. it was just incredible," says Jo Radil, one of the striking LPNs, who says she and her colleagues negotiated for a raise and preservation of their health benefits. "I'd never dealt with such bull-headed people in my whole life. If you're making $8 an hour, you're paying daycare, you know you have to pay your heath care benefit, you don't come home with a thing, you know if anything you'll probably owe the clinic; that was one of the biggies - the health care benefits."

The Alexandria Clinic offered the LPN staff a contract that was unacceptable to the nurses; it increased the hours the nurses were required to work to receive full benefits, so they voted to walk out. Clinic administrators claimed the September 10, 1999 strike was illegal, and fired the nurses.

The nurses have been off the picket line almost a year and a half now. They ended their daily march after a National Labor Relations Board hearing on the case. Radil says she thought the strike was over when a judge ruled the clinic should rehire the nurses with back pay.

"He told us at the very end, 'I would suggest that you settle this, because otherwise, it can go on for years; it can cost millions.' He suggested that the clinic settle it, get it done, but nope."

The issue wasn't settled. In August 2000, the Alexandria clinic appealed the NLRB ruling. So until there is a final ruling, and that could be years away, the 23 nurses remain on strike.

Alexandria Clinic officials declined to be interviewed for this story, but in a statement, Clinic Administrator Tim Hunt said the labor dispute has had "no significant impact on the clinic or our ability to continue to deliver quality patient care." The statement also says replacement nurses hired to replace the fired employees are qualified and committed.

Clinic officials have maintained the firings occurred because the strike took place illegally. But John Budd, a professor of industrial relations at the University of Minnesota, says this type of situation occurs because employers are anti-union. "I think the details of this case may be somewhat unique, however I think bigger picture or the more common underlying theme that is very popular among us labor relations and that's using every legal means possible to try to fight unionization, to try to drag out the processes," he says.

Budd says the NLRB tends to rule in favor of striking workers in cases like the Alexandria Clinic strike. He thinks the striking nurses have a good case.

"It is possible to fire workers for going on strike illegally, it is not possible to fire workers if they are going on a legal strike, it is possible to hire replacements, as we've both in Alexandria and the Twin Cities. There are some workers where it is OK to fire striking workers, although the case in Alexandria does not seem to be one of those times," according to Budd.

If the Alexandria Clinic appeal to the NLRB ruling fails, the clinic would be forced to offer the fired nurses their jobs back, with years of back pay. Some nurses say they would return to the clinic, but most have moved onto other jobs, and would likely accept just the payment.

The NLRB has indicated it could take three to six years for the case to move through the appeals process. In the meantime, the nurses are expected to gather near the clinic to mark the second anniversary of their strike this September.

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