Wrapping up a challenging year
• Nurses say ‘yes to invest’ – page 5
• Nursing practice during a pandemic - page 7
• Take your advocacy to a new level: run for office - page 17
• Year in Pictures - page 8
• MNA organization-wide election results - page 9
• Where do you dues go?– page 18-22
While 2020 brought many challenges, MNA members stepped up and made the best out of a difficult situation. From finding new ways to organize and build power virtually to speaking out against unsafe COVID-19 practices in facilities and fighting for proper PPE, nurses showed great strength, creativity, and resiliency.
In a year filled with so many firsts, good and bad, it’s important to celebrate that MNA members achieved first contracts at three different facilities:
• CHI St. Alexius in Bismarck, North Dakota
• Acute-care nurses at Redwood Area Hospital
• McLeod County Public Health
These are three of the 37 contracts that were successfully negotiated in 2020, covering more than 5,700 members!
During bargaining, nurses successfully advocated for language to address workplace violence that was added to contracts throughout the region. In addition to bargaining over their full contracts, nurses went to tables to address COVID-19 effects on staffing, scheduling, and patient placement and flow.
Across MNA’s four-state region, nurses engaged in actions to pressure employers and made sure that their voices were heard by making the fight public. In the Metro area, led by nurses at Allina United Hospital, there was a successful picket in front of the hospital and a spirited march to the Capitol where nurses from several facilities spoke about their experiences with COVID-19.
From Brainerd and Bemidji to Virginia and Duluth, nurses across northern Minnesota held informational pickets and participated in car parades to advance their goals. Nurses in Bismarck held an informational picket as part of their tactics to pressure the employer into coming to an agreement on a historic first contract that addresses long-standing issues. By using new tactics, nurses were able to throw management off their game and keep the public aware of their facilities’ issues. Several of these tactics were used by nurses at Avera Marshall Hospital as they fought back against their CEO who dismissed nurses’ safety, practice, and contract language. Their resolute stand resulted in the removal of the CEO.
Unfortunately, employers tried to use the pandemic as another excuse to continue their focus on profits over nurses and patients. They attempted to use benchmarking to justify lower staffing ratios and accelerated the closure of units and hospitals to save money. And while nurses ended 2019 by shining a spotlight on M Health Fairview’s bad decision to reduce long-term acute care hospital services, they had to continue shining the light throughout 2020 on the shuttering of Bethesda and end of inpatient services at St. Joseph’s, Minnesota’s first hospital.
To keep the pressure on all employers, nurses bravely spoke out in local, regional, national, and international media. By the end of June, PPE stories from nurses reached almost 600 million combined views from readers and viewers in more than 23 states. These stories continued to grow in the second half of the year, with nurses appearing on MSNBC, NPR, CNN, CNN International, The Guardian, the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and more.
Minnesota Nursing Accent
Minnesota Nurses Association
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WINTER 2020
PUBLISHER Rose Roach
MANAGING EDITORS
Amber Smigiel
Chris Reinke
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Mary Turner, President
Chris Rubesch, 1st Vice President
Doreen McIntyre, 2nd Vice President
Jennifer Michelson, Secretary
Sandie Anderson, Treasurer Directors
Laurie Bahr, RN
Angela Becchetti, RN
Bridget Gavin, RN
Heather Jax, RN
Susan Kreitz, RN
Lynnetta Muehlhauser, RN
Stella Obadiya, RN
Gail Olson, RN
Rui Pina, RN
Angela Schroeder Malone, RN
Cliff Willmeng, RN
Open Positions
1 Non-RN Director
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If one good thing can come out of this year, it’s that the pandemic has shone a bright light on how the U.S. healthcare system wasn’t, and still isn’t, prepared to deal with a global pandemic.
This is due in large part to corporations running our healthcare system like a business, implementing business models that may work in, say the auto industry, but do not work in healthcare – models such as lean management which is a way to do more and more with less and less – less human effort, less equipment, less time, and less space.
We know it’s about minimizing costs to maximize profit, not to take care of patients. Operating under the lean management model has caused a lack of inventory of PPE, a drastic shortage of nurses and other frontline healthcare workers, and a deskilling of healthcare professionals. This is not an economically efficient way to run a healthcare system nor is it a safe and humane way to provide care to those in need. The pandemic has laid bare the fact that we have no public health infrastructure, which puts all our health at risk.
In 2021, MNA will focus on anticorporate healthcare for our legislative agenda. We got a head start by endorsing candidates in 2020 who support healthcare reform and collective bargaining. We also want to focus on it at the bargaining table. We will make sure that proposals for upcoming negotiations include demands that will better protect us from corporate healthcare going forward.
Now that the public has seen the damage this kind of healthcare can do, we need to seize the moment and use our power to make change. There is no better time for us to demonstrate there is a better way to ensure the public’s health – we must up the ante and work harder than ever to take our healthcare out of the hands of corporate elites and put it back into the hands of nurses and others who compassionately provide the care.
No more trying to make a corporatized, market-based system work at the cost of patients’ lives. It’s time for the public and frontline healthcare workers to come together to create oversight of these hospital systems to prevent
closures of clinics and hospitals based on financial greed instead of community health needs and to ultimately enact a single payer, MN Health Plan. The time for Medicare for All is now.
To say 2020 was a hard year would be an understatement. The COVID-19 pandemic challenged nurses and other frontline healthcare workers more than ever before. I’ve experienced things in the ICU that I never thought I would in all my years of nursing.
We should absolutely celebrate the fact that we won so many hard-fought contracts. But we shouldn’t have had to fight so hard. When I went to support nurses at some of the info pickets over the last year, it was disheartening that one of the main issues was getting proper protection during a pandemic.
Things that should have just been automatic required a fight every step of the way. It’s a given we are going to keep our patients safe. We just do it. I’ve heard the same thing from nurses across the region. It would be nice to have that same treatment from our employers. All we ask is that we are taken care of in return. Instead, now hospitals are trying to blame us for getting infected in our communities instead of at work.
We also have to acknowledge the emotional strain of the past year. Many nurses, myself included, are experiencing PTSD from our experiences. My father died at the beginning of the pandemic, alone because we couldn’t visit him, and I’ve held the hand of patients saying goodbye to their families over Zoom. We need to prioritize our mental health as we head into the New Year as well.
Despite all this, I have hope.
That hope started when I had the opportunity to represent nurses at a roundtable with President-elect Biden. It was the highlight of my career to speak to him and share what we were experiencing with the rest of the country. The government was finally listening—someone who could actually do something.
I want you to have hope, too!
Now we have a vaccine. Soon nurses across the region will be protected along with their families, patients, and communities. We can see the light at the end of this challenging tunnel. We persevered through this incredibly difficult year, and now we are stronger than ever.
In 2021, let’s continue to fight for the treatment we deserve and take what we’ve learned this year to improve the nursing profession. Here’s to a hopeful New Year!
1. Promote the professional, economic, and personal well-being of nurses.
2. Uphold and advance excellence, integrity, and autonomy in the practice of nursing.
3. Advocate for quality care that is accessible and affordable for all.
The purpose of the Minnesota Nurses Association, a union of professional nurses with unrestricted RN membership, shall be to advance the professional, economic, and general well-being of nurses and to promote the health and well-being of the public. These purposes shall be unrestricted by considerations of age, color, creed, disability, gender, gender identity, health status, lifestyle, nationality, race, religion, or sexual orientation.
MNA is a positive, powerful union of professional direct patient care nurses that advances nursing practice, effective, safe staffing and working conditions, patient interests and works to build a healthy community, empowered profession, and fair and just society along the principles of the Main Street Contract:
• Jobs at living wages
• Guaranteed healthcare
• A secure retirement
• Equal access to quality education
• A safe and clean environment
• Good housing
• Protection from hunger
• Human rights for all
• An end to discrimination
• A just taxation system where corporations and the wealthy pay their fair share
In practice, this means:
1. MNA empowers registered nurses to use their collective strength, knowledge, and experience to advance and enhance safe and professional nursing practice, nursing leadership, and the community health and well-being.
2. MNA promotes effective RN staffing and safe working conditions for both patients and registered nurses in direct patient care, in policy and political arenas, and in our communities.
3. MNA builds its power as a union of professional nurses by increasing its membership and exercises that power through effective internal and external organizing, and member participation, activism, education, and mobilization.
4. MNA actively promotes social, economic and racial justice and the health, security, and well-being of all in its organizational programs and collaborations with partner organizations.
5. MNA works in solidarity with the National Nurses United and the AFL-CIO to build a worker movement that promotes the rights of patients, nurses, and workers across the United States.
MNA will achieve its vision through six key strategic pathways.
• Strengthen the integrity of nursing practice, nursing practice environments, and safe patient staffing standards and principles.
• Oppose any attacks on nursing practice and workers’ rights, including any attempts of deskilling the professional nurse’s scope of practice and right-to-work legislation.
• Collectively bargain from strength across the upper Midwest
• Organize externally and internally to increase MNA membership and continue to increase solidarity and participation of membership locally, regionally, and nationally.
• Elect politicians who will implement nurse/worker-friendly public policy, including safe staffing and a healthcare system that includes everyone and excludes no one.
• Work in solidarity with the NNU and AFL-CIO and other community allies to advance nursing, health care and worker justice issues.
After the participants spoke about their experiences and answered his questions, Biden took a moment to thank all frontline workers and promised to fight as hard for them as they do for their communities.
On November 18, MNA President Mary C. Turner represented the nation’s nurses during a roundtable with President-elect Joe Biden and other frontline workers from SEIU, the International Federation of Firefighters, and the American Federation of Teachers.
Biden began the discussion by emphasizing the importance of hearing from frontline workers first-hand and how vital their contributions have been during the unprecedented pandemic.
“This crisis has shown the nation that we literally could not survive without you,” he said. “You’ve always been essential, even if most of America hasn’t learned that term until recently.”
Mary spoke about the realities nurses face during this pandemic, including dealing with limited supplies and staffing while publicly fighting for the resources they need.
“As President of the Minnesota Nurses Association, I have been on multiple picket lines with healthcare workers who are protesting to get the PPE that they need and other protections,” she told Biden during her remarks. “There is something seriously wrong when nurses have to take to the streets to beg for protection in the middle of a pandemic.”
Mary also gave an impassioned plea for what all frontline workers need from the Federal Government and the next administration.
“We know that we are facing immense death and suffering in the coming weeks, and we will be there,” she said. “But we need to act now; we need to act quickly, to protect our healthcare workers so that we can save as many lives as possible.”
Visibly moved by her words, Biden shared about his own experience in the ICU and the strain he saw it cause nurses, even before they had to deal with a pandemic. He was also shocked to learn that, at the time of the roundtable, Mary had not received a COVID-19 test from her hospital since the pandemic began.
“As president, I’m going to fight as hard as I can, as hard as you’re fighting for your communities,” Biden said at the close of the roundtable. “And we’re going to make sure that you get the personal protective equipment you need. We’re going to make sure you have paid sick leave. We’re going to make sure that you can care for your families . . . We’re going to make sure we don’t just praise you, but we actually pay you. And we’re going to protect your right to collective bargaining and form a union. And we’re going to lead a robust and aggressive effort to control the virus.”
News organizations across the country were also moved by Mary’s comments during the roundtable and reached out to have her speak about her experience with Biden and at the frontlines of the pandemic.
“For the first time, speaking with President-elect Biden, I had hope,” said Mary during her appearance on CNN’s Out Front with Erin Burnett. “And with that came such an emotional release.”
Mary is currently a nurse at North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale, Minnesota, where she proudly works on the night shift COVID-19 ICU unit.
Watch the full roundtable here: https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=J6c1wkmunAc
The COVID-19 pandemic also made it more challenging for nurses to build more political power in 2020. Nurses were no longer able to visit the Capitol to meet with legislators or participate in Day on the Hill events. Despite this, nurses were able to find opportunities to advocate in other ways.
MNA held 27 “in-district” video conferences where 82 MNA nurses connected with their legislators. These nurses educated legislators on increasing PPE supply, getting presumptive eligibility for workers compensation claims, passing prescription drug reform measures, and the conditions inside their hospitals. Nurses also sent hundreds of emails to their legislators asking for support.
MNA’s legislative priorities also changed dramatically as the pandemic consumed the legislature and the minds of nurses during 2020. However, MNA was successful once again in holding the nurse licensure compact back from passage. In large part, due to the multi-organizational and multi-year campaign, prescription drug reform also made progress with the passage of the Alec Smith Insulin Affordability Act. The new law ensures that insulin-dependent Minnesotans have access to emergency insulin and that those who face difficulty with cost can enroll in a program that would help with affordability issues. However, the fight is not over as the law is being challenged by a group representing pharmaceutical manufacturers.
Nurses had to take on a new challenge because of COVID-19, engaging heavily in a campaign with other labor partners to ensure Workers’ Compensation Presumptive Eligibility for essential workers. Before the bill passage, frontline workers needed to provide evidence that they contracted COVID-19 at work. With the passage of this bill, those workers are presumed to have contracted COVID-19 through their employment, meaning the burden of proof is shifted from the employee to the employer. Through this legislation, hospitals will need to provide proof that a nurse did not contract COVID-19 through the course of their employment. This was initially a huge win for nurses and other healthcare workers who face increased risk. However, hospitals continue to circumvent the law, which has resulted in frustration for nurses across the state. MNA continues to alert the Department of Labor and Industry when notified about significant violations and encourages all nurses, if denied initially for worker’s compensation, to file an appeal with the Department of Labor and Industry themselves.
Nurses also worked on building political power by engaging in the 2020 electoral program. Despite the inability to do
screening, endorsement, caucusing, or persuasion in person, MNA nurses could still run a successful electoral action program that built nurse power with new candidates and current elected officials. Out of the 66 House seats that MNA endorsed, 56 MNA-supported candidates won their races. In the Senate, MNA made 42 endorsements, with 30 of those candidates winning. Overall, 15 of the MNA endorsed candidates who won their races are brand new to elected office and are crediting nurses with helping win their races.
One of the biggest challenges for nurses during the pandemic was navigating one of the most difficult practice experiences of their careers. MNA kept nurses up to date on their legal rights in a pandemic, health and safety issues, quarantine, crisis staffing, ethical challenges of providing care with limited resources, telehealth, and many more.
All of MNA’s educational programs were developed into online learning, focusing on core trainings most in demand by members: Steward Training, Staffing, and Nurse Practice Act education, including Refusing Unsafe Assignment training. Chair Training, several one-time classes, and presentations by guest-instructors were also available.
The MNA Convention was affected by COVID-19 as well. It is usually the largest education event of the year, so this year with the House of Delegates taking place online, member leaders chose to present online education throughout October. There were 26 classes offered, more than double what is usually available in-person at Convention. These classes reached members all over the region and featured new topics. Guest presenters included Minnesota State University Mankato nursing faculty and MNA member Tammy Neiman, Minnesota Board of Nursing Nursing Peer Support Network board member and MNA member Sarah Simons, and nationally respected labor scholars Bill Fletcher Jr and Peter Rachleff. Participants from 40 different bargaining units attended these classes, representing the Metro, greater Minnesota, Wisconsin, and North Dakota bargaining units. Overall, the 2020 education program presented 165 individual classes, reaching 600 members from nearly every MNA bargaining unit.
Looking back as we begin the New Year, there is nursing practice before the pandemic and nursing practice since the pandemic; not unlike a personal traumatic event that changes that person’s life trajectory. I have been a registered nurse for more than twenty years and have practiced in various settings in four different states including, a 70+ bed open-heart step-down unit of a large healthcare system, a critical access hospital, a community hospital, and a Level II trauma center. My role as your Nursing Practice and Regulatory Affairs Specialist, in part and in collaboration with MNA staff, is to assist with complex nursing practice situations. Since the pandemic, nursing practice complexity has been unlike any I have experienced in my nursing career and could never have foreseen.
Most troubling is the response of crisis leadership in some Minnesota hospitals which put nurses and patient care at risk such as bullying, refusing to supply adequate personal protective equipment, deployment of nurses to unfamiliar patient care areas, inadequate surge staffing, and more. In these challenging situations, nurse members seek guidance to improve them, protect their patients, and themselves.
In addition to assisting with individual practice situations, throughout the pandemic, I have taught a basic Minnesota Nurse Practice Act (NPA) class which reviews rules that pertain to nursing practice, such as scope of practice, grounds for disciplinary action, reporting obligations, among others. Class participants engage in discussions about practice scenarios to gain a basic understanding of the application of the NPA in the context of a certain set of facts, standards of care, culture, and other aspects of practice. Through these discussions, nurse members learn how rules that appear admirably straightforward may actually be more complicated. More so since the pandemic.
Additionally, discussions emphasize the importance of advocating for individual patients which is a professional, legal, and ethical obligation. Speaking up is critically important. So too, is working together as a team, supporting nurses who refuse unsafe assignments, calling up the Chain-of-Command,
and appropriately documenting actions taken and responses received (in a follow-up email to management, for example). Also, nurse members are encouraged to consider professional liability insurance. These are especially trying times.
Nurses often ask; if they have their own professional liability insurance, are they more likely to become a target in a lawsuit? Or comment that their employer’s insurance will provide a legal defense. However, if a nurse caused harm because of negligence and there is a lawsuit, they may expect to be named whether they have insurance or not. Also, the legal principle that an employer’s insurance policy will provide a legal defense is vicarious liability, or respondeat superior, meaning the employer is vicariously liable for the negligence of its employees. The assumption overlooks important considerations, such as the type of legal defense the employer will provide. For example, what if a nurse needs to defend themselves by providing evidence that blames the employer?
The primary reason to invest in professional liability insurance is to provide a legal defense for a complaint against your nursing license to the Board of Nursing that may result in action against your nursing license or disciplinary action. Because there are many reasons why the Board may commence an investigation such as a compliant, social media post, etc., it is more likely a defense would be needed in one of these types of actions rather than a malpractice lawsuit. Even so, malpractice is another good reason to invest in professional liability insurance.
minnesota nursing accent
January 8
ACLS Recertification Class
January 20
Minnesota Wild Salute 2 Scrubs
January 28
No Cuts on Quality Care Townhall
February 6
Legislative Preview meeting with legislators
February 20
House Health and Human Services Finance Division hearing on the healthcare marketplace
February 24
No Cuts on Quality Care Rally
March 24
MNA PPE Donation Drive
May 20
Informational Picket at United Hospital and march to the Capitol
June 12
MNA Community Donation Drive
June 26
Informational Picket at CHI St. Alexius Health Bismarck
August 3
Informational Picket at Essentia Health in Virginia
August 5
Day of Action to Save Lives
October 19
Informational Picket at Essentia Health in Brainerd
October 19
Rally and delivering demands to the Ramsey County Board of Commissioners
November 3
Press conference addressing the shutdown of M Health Fairview St. Paul area hospitals
October 12 & November 30, 2020
Bylaws Amendment A1 FAILED
Art 1 Sect 1: Name and Affiliations
Proposing name change to Midwest Nurses Association.
Bylaws Amendment A2 ADOPTED
Art IV Sect 3C: Elections
Retired Collective Bargaining Delegates can now vote for the Delegate position they can run in.
Bylaws Amendment A3 ADOPTED
Art IV Sect 4 A&B: Terms of Office
The Election on Bargaining Unit Leaders, Stewards, and Negotiating Team Members policy will now determine the term length and election process for Collective Bargaining Delegates.
Bylaws Amendment A4 ADOPTED
Art IV Sect 4C: Terms of Office
Serving more than one-half of a term on the MNA Board of Directors will be considered a full term, anything less will not count toward term limits.
Bylaws Amendment A5 ADOPTED
Art VI Sect 5A: Board Composition
If the Non-RN Director position is not filled by election or appointment after three months of a new term, the position will be offered to the RN Director candidate receiving the next highest number of votes.
Bylaws Amendment A6 DIVIDED
Art VII Sect 6A: Commission on Governmental Affairs
Congressional Districts refer to those in Minnesota. ADOPTED
Remove requirement of members to live in the districts they represent. FAILED
Resolution R1
Political Independence and Power for the MNA FAILED
Resolution R2
Public Financing of Campaigns ADOPTED
Resolution R3
MNA’s Review and Evaluation of Representation ADOPTED
Resolution R4
MNA Stands Against Discrimination and Racism ADOPTED
Resolution R5
Mandatory Anti-Racist Training for Stewards ADOPTED
Resolution R6
Equality Representation in Union Committees & Equal Advancement ADOPTED
Resolution R7
NOC Representation at Convention House of Delegates ADOPTED
Resolution R8
MNA to Influence Police Policy in Regards to Racism FAILED
Main Motion M1
2020 Legislative Platform ADOPTED
Main Motion M2
HOD Policy-Alternate Delegates to MNA’s House of Delegates ADOPTED
Main Motion M3
HOD Policy-Filling Open
Delegate Positions in House of Delegates ADOPTED
Main Motion M4
HOD Policy-Challenging an MNA Election ADOPTED
Main Motion M5
HOD Policy-Removal of Elected MNA Officials & Commissioners ADOPTED
Emergency Main Motion M6: Statement of Solidarity from White Nurses FAILED TO CONSIDER
*Note: The 2020 HOD voted to not consider this Emergency Main Motion. However, since the MNA Board of Directors approved this Statement in August 2020, this is currently the position of MNA.
Cynthia Hunt-Lines
Mable Fale, Spring Arbor University
Nancy Thao, The College of St. Scholastica
Tara Young, University of North Dakota
Janky Foundation
Kelly Perro, University of North Dakota
Phillips Laird
Michelle Hammer, Maryville Uninversity
Rose Dhein
Morganna Moon, St Catherine University
Sarah Colvin Social Justice
Robin Henderson, St. Catherine University
Mary Eliza Mahoney
Felix Boit, Rasmussen College
MNAF Graduate
Sarah Carlson-Bradley, University of North Dakota
Samantha Delander, The College of St. Scholastica
Elana Goldsmith, University of Minnesota
Tara Gottwalt, Maryville University
Nyaha Jome Ceesay, Walden University
Heather Julian, Grand Canyon University
Doneca Merfeld Ruble, Minnesota State University-Mankato
Kelsey Swenson, Augsburg University
Delphine Timti, Walden University
Katrina Zwack, The College of St. Scholastica
MNAF Baccalaureate
Alicia Thomsen, The College of St. Scholastica
MNA Member
Akuvi Akoumany, Metro State University
Kate Amoako, University of Minnesota
Arbra Brown, Augsburg University
Brina Buetow, Southwest Minnesota State University
Lisa Burkhalter, Walden University
Annamaria Cioffi, University of MInnesota
Rory Connolly, University of North Dakota
Thuthao Dinh, Walden University
Phurbu Dolma, Grand Canyon University
Vi Duong, Bradley University
Natasha Fester, Unversity of North Dakota
Cassandra Franson, Minnesota State University Mankato
Tracy Gemmell, The College of St. Scholastica
Emily Grandson, Minnesota State University Mankato
Mary Monica Grogan, University of Minnesota
Danyel Haime, American Sentinel
Kristina Hernandez, University of Minnesota
Sawdatu Iddrisu, Purdue Global University
Jennifer Jakobe, Winona State University
Justin Juan, Capella University
Melissa Kadrmas, Western Governors University
Courtney Kenefick, University of Minnesota
Arielle Kirk, Concordia University
Sarah Locken, The College of St. Scholastica
Jennifer Lowe, Minnesota State University Mankato
Christine Maddy, Bemidji State University
Alisen Madison, Mankato State University
Risper Makori, Spring Arbor University
Noah Montante, Walden University
Christine Myers, University of Minnesota
Jessica Runyon, St. Catherine University
June Shields, The College of St. Scholastica
Shauna Weishaar, Maryville University
David Wrobleski, University of Minnesota
Merrilyn Yang, University of North Dakota
Garrett Zewers, University of North Dakota
Candise Zwilling, Rasmussen College
MNA Associate Member
Elizabeth Kazeem, Rasmussen College
MNA Legacy Scholarship for children or dependents of MNA Members
Julia Berggren, South Dakota State University enrolled in undergraduate program in Nursing
Celeste Brom, University of Minnesota Duluth enrolled in undergraduate program in Accounting
Madeline Egbert, Iowa State University enrolled in undergraduate program in Apparel Merchandising
Alex Gross, Inver Hills Community College enrolled in undergraduate program in Nursing
Paige Johnson, Grand Canyon University enrolled in undergraduate program in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Larissa Kycia, College of Saint Benedict enrolled in undergraduate program in Science
Emma Melin, University of Minnesota Twin Cities enrolled in undergraduate program
Brianna Molnar, Ball State University
enrolled in undergraduate program in Science
Ashley Nelson, University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire
enrolled in undergraduate program in Integrated Strategic Communications – Advertising
Gloria Nwanekpe, St. Cloud State University
enrolled in undergraduate program in Graphic Design and Computer Science
Michael Nwanekpe, Century College
enrolled in undergraduate program in Business Management and Marketing
Nnamdi Okorie, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities enrolled in undergraduate program in Acting
Joseph Pesik, University of Minnesota Duluth
enrolled in undergraduate program in Civil Engineering
Anna Rabe, Bethel University
enrolled in undergraduate program
Chizorom Richards-Okorie, University of Wisconsin River Falls enrolled in undergraduate program
Sasha Ryshkus Knutson, Roosevelt University enrolled in undergraduate program in Special Education
Hannah Scherr, Minnesota State Community and Technical College
enrolled in undergraduate program in Nursing
Elisabeth Strecker, Bethel University enrolled in undergraduate program in Nursing
Eric Tehrani, Normandale Community College
enrolled in undergraduate program in Microbiology
Patrick Tehrani, Normandale Community College enrolled in undergraduate program in Pre Med
Nathaniel Tilahun, Anoka Ramsey Community College enrolled in undergraduate program in Computer Science
First and foremost, when I see employees wearing masks and using sanitizer correctly, I thank them loudly (not shouting just so those close can hear). If I see the manager, I compliment them on keeping the facility as safe as possible.
When I encounter staff who are not wearing a mask or wearing it below their nose, I ask the employee quietly to please put on their mask on correctly to protect themselves and me. I thank them if they do. If they say no or do not respond, I ask them to please call their manager. If they don’t, I will call the store using my cell phone and ask for a manager to come down immediately. I do not go back to that store.
Nurses always respond during disasters, war, and now a pandemic. Unfortunately, while this pandemic has become a political football, as nurses, we know this virus is no game. Our most vulnerable and even those with no risk factors are losing their lives every day. Our hospitals are at capacity, and nurse staffing makes it impossible to provide care in many areas of our state. Many patients are told they have to get care hundreds of miles from their homes.
Now that the election is over and the virus is still raging, we must educate and enforce proven strategies we use in our workplaces and in our communities to stop the spread of this virus. Our first line of defense and the easiest, most effective way to beat this pandemic is to avoid the spread of this disease. We should be using every opportunity we encounter to educate and demand our patients and our community use masks correctly, wash their hands, and practice safe social distancing.
Like many of you, I have pondered how to handle situations in public places. It seems hard to find the right words while being respectful and nonconfrontational.
The hardest is when friends and family do not understand why you will not attend a party or other large group activities such as dinners, weddings, and funerals. I have a responsibility to them to do all I can to limit the spread of this disease. I use the opportunity to explain the circle of infection in layman’s terms and how we can stop it.
Minnesota businesses also have a responsibility to ensure all employees and service workers comply with the guidelines for masks, hand washing, and safe social distancing. We all know some do not. I have tried several strategies to ‘help’ them comply. You will no doubt have other ideas, and I hope you can share them in the comments below.
If you have a major concern about a violation, you can contact local law enforcement, call the state hotline at 651793-3746, or email sahviolations@state.mn.us
We must remember nurses are the most trusted profession. We must use that trust to maintain public health measures to control this disease. That’s what nurses do.
You’re welcome to share your ideas in the comments of the online version of this article to help make a difference and create a safe environment for all: https://mnnurses.org/ourfirst-line-of-defense/
Don’t miss this opportunity to get involved! The Non-RN Director position on the MNA Board of Directors (effective January 1, 2021 - December 31, 2023) was not filled during the recent organization-wide elections; therefore, MNA is reaching out to Non-RN members covered by a collective bargaining agreement to fill this vacancy.
Refer to the MNA Bylaws (Article VI - Board of Directors) for expectations and functions of this position on the Member Center: https://mymna.mnnurses.org/Clients/MNA/content/140/mnabylawspoliciesresolutions.aspx.
After April 1, 2021, the Board of Directors will fill the vacancy per the MNA Bylaws, Article VI Section 5.
Online Appointment Consideration applications are due March 31, 2021.
To apply, visit: https://mna.formstack.com/forms/mna_ appointment_consideration_copy
Welcome to our Readers, whether First to Last Pagers or Skimmers or Wannabes! The MNA Ethics Committee extends a warm invitation to join in engaging and enriching conversation with other MNA nurses. This Book Club meets five times a year and offers not only connection with other nurses but also 2.0 nursing contact hours! We are using Zoom as our platform for meeting with all the bonus material that includes such as pets, babies, and mug wisdom. It’s an informal venue, yet often yields great insights for the time spent in discussion with one another. Use the MNA event calendar at www.mnnurses. org/events to reserve your spot. You will receive a reminder email with the Zoom link prior to the book clubs. Hope to see you often in 2021!
All book clubs take place on Thursdays from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Here are the selections for 2021:
January 21
Separated by William D Lopez
Separated is an account of how immigration laws and deportation negatively impact communities, families, and individuals. The author analyzes the impact of one raid on a Michigan community in 2013 and how those left behind had incredible challenges to face. The ethics and impact of a “lawful” deportation system that is racist and violent are discussed in depth.
March 18
Haldol and Hyacinths
by William D Lopez
Haldol and Hyacinths is the compelling story of a woman who refused to become a victim. Moezzi shares her personal story of living with a diagnosis of Bipolar where people in her life, including her medical professionals, tried to push her into in a world of invisibility. It is a funny and provocative story of her lived experience, one that has relevance for every one of us.
May 20
White Fragility by Robin Diangelo
White Fragility provides an opportunity to explore common reactions to situations where our assumptions are challenged. While this book specifically considers the response of white people to the concept of their (our) own racist tendencies, the principles can also be applied to other prejudicial assumptions we encounter as nurses in practice. Reflecting upon our own implicit biases is part of our path forward into promoting a more equitable society for all.
September 16
The Radium Girls by Kate Moore
The Radium Girls is the story of very young, often immigrant women in the 1920s who were lured to jobs to paint radium on dials so they would glow in the dark for military planes. Radium was known to cause health issues, but that information was withheld. This story talks about the movement toward workers’ rights and occupational health laws needed then, and still needed now.
November 18
The Cutter Incident by Paul Offit
The Cutter Incident explores the polio vaccine and how it eventually suppressed the production of vaccines for other fatal diseases. It takes place in 1955 at Cutter Industrial facility when 200,000 people were inadvertently injected with live virulent polio virus and the ensuing tragedy of 70,000 becoming ill and others dying or becoming paralyzed. Vaccination continues to be a controversial topic and understanding the history and mixed motives for vaccination is important for nurses in a variety of settings.
November 23, 2020
All Terms: January 1, 2021 – December 31, 2023
MNA Board of Directors
President Mary Turner
1st Vice President
Christopher Rubesch
2nd Vice President Doreen McIntyre
Secretary Jennifer Michelson
Treasurer
Directors
Sandie Anderson
Laurie Bahr
Angela Becchetti
Bridget Gavin
Heather Jax
Sue Kreitz
Lynnetta Muehlhauser
Stella Obadiya
Gail Olson
Rui Pina
Angela Schroeder-Malone
Cliff Willmeng
Non-RN Director (Open)
Commission on Nursing Practice and Education
Niki Gjere
Gladys Igbo
Commission on Governmental Affairs
Mary Kirsling
Candy Matzke
Rebekah Nelson
Marcia Swanson
Leesa Wilson
Committee on Elections
Tracey Dittrich
Cassie Hamilton
Leadership Committee of the Council of Active Retired Nurses
Mary Kirsling
Susan Kreitz
Barbara Martin
Kathleen Moore
Juli Uzlik
Pat Webster
Charlotte (Kava) Zabawa
AFL-CIO Delegates
Sharon Carlson
Keiana Carrington-Hughes
Tammy Fritze
Dick Hebrink
Robin Henderson
Margaret (Peggy) Henrickson
Mischelle Knipe
Sherri Lidholm
Candy Matzke
Doreen McIntyre
Jennifer Michelson
Lynnetta Muehlhauser
Rebekah Nelson
Judy Russell-Martin
Marcia Swanson
Melanie Timpano
Cliff Willmeng
Non-Collective Bargaining Delegate
Niki Gjere
MNA Annual Notices Regarding Dues (This notice is not applicable to public sector employees or employees of employers located in right-to-work states, except employees of employers in those states who are covered by the Railway Labor Act or are situated on U.S. Government property.)
As an employee working under a Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) agreement containing a union security clause, you are required, as a condition of employment, to pay dues or fees to MNA. This is the only obligation under the union security clause. You do not have to actually become a member of MNA. Individuals who are members pay dues while individuals who are non-members pay an agency fee. This fee, which is authorized by law, is your fair share of paying for the benefits of union representation that you and your co-workers receive. Non-members may file objections to paying for expenditures that are not germane to MNA’s duties as collective bargaining representative and obtain a reduction in fees for those activities. This notice contains information relevant to deciding whether to object, and the internal MNA procedures for filing objections.
Non-member fee payers give up many benefits that only MNA members receive. As a member, you will have all the benefits and privileges of membership, including the right to fully participate in the internal activities of the union, the right to attend and participate in membership meetings, the right to participate in contract ratification and strike votes, the right to vote to set or raise dues and fees, the right to nominate and elect MNA officers, and the right to run for MNA office and for convention delegate.
If you nonetheless elect to become an agency fee payer, you will be required to pay, as a condition of employment, an “agency fee” that represents a percentage of the monthly dues for reasonable and necessary costs incurred in acting as your bargaining representative. The agency fee is calculated based on those “chargeable” expenditures germane to collective bargaining activities MNA incurred during the most recently completed fiscal year. Among those expenditures germane to collective bargaining for which agency fee payers may be charged are those made for the negotiation, administration, and enforcement of the collective bargaining agreement; all expenses related to representing employees in the bargaining unit, including the investigation and processing of grievances; MNA administration; and other germane expenses. Those expenditures that are non-chargeable are identified as expenditures for activities not germane to MNA’s duty as your bargaining representative, such as expenditures for certain lobbying activities and to support political candidates. Currently, 13.34% of MNA’s expenditures are deemed to be non-chargeable expenditures. The financial information provided herewith summarizes the chargeable and non-chargeable expenses.
If you are a member and wish to resign from MNA, or if you do not want to become a member, and you object to paying dues equal to the amount customarily paid by MNA members and wish to pay agency fees instead, you must notify MNA of your choice by
sending a letter in the mail so stating to the Membership Department, Minnesota Nurses Association, 345 Randolph Avenue, Suite 200, St. Paul, MN, 55102. The letter must include your full name, mailing address, your employer’s name, your job classification, and your date of hire. In all cases, if you are thereafter employed as a new employee by another employer with a union security agreement with MNA, you must follow the above process with respect to obtaining agency fee status with your new employer.
If you submit a valid objection you will receive another copy of MNA’s calculation of representational expenditures, verified by an independent certified public accountant, and shall have their dues reduced to reflect the percentage of non-representational expenditures from the previous year. The current percentage of the reduction would be by 13.34%. This reduction in dues will commence on the first day of the month following the receipt of the objection. If you have signed a payroll deduction authorization card, MNA will instruct your employer to deduct that agency fee from your paycheck. If you have not signed a payroll deduction authorization card, you must pay the amount of the agency fee directly to MNA in a timely manner. This agency fee status will be treated as continuing in nature. Should you wish to discontinue this status, you may do so at any time by contacting MNA.
Non-member objectors have the right to challenge MNA’s calculations of representational expenditures before an impartial arbitrator. Such challenges must be made in writing, explain the basis for the challenge, and be received by MNA within 30 days of the employee receiving the calculation information. Upon receipt of a timely valid challenge, MNA will put the challenged amount of dues in an interest-bearing escrow account. If more than one non-member objector challenges the calculations, the challenges will be consolidated for hearing. The decision of the impartial arbitrator will be final and binding.
MNA fully expects that few, if any, employees it represents will avail themselves of the option of agency fee status since it firmly believes that all employees represented by MNA recognize the importance of all the expenses incurred by MNA on their behalf in the continuing struggle to improve the working conditions and job security of employees represented by MNA. While it is your legal right to be a non-member and to object to paying full dues, we believe that doing so is not in your best interest or in the interest of your co-workers.
Before choosing agency fee payer status over full member benefits of MNA membership, read this notice carefully and be aware of the benefits that you will be giving up.
Fees charged to non-member agency fee payers support expenditures for representational costs such as collective bargaining, contract enforcement, grievance processing, union administration, and other matters made by the Minnesota Nurses
Association and National Nurses United (NNU). The chargeable portion of the National Nurses United (NNU) assessment is based on an analysis of the NNU audited expenses. Non-chargeable items include, among other things, certain lobbying costs and political activities, as well as costs related to maintaining a political action fund. Newsletter costs are non-chargeable to the extent that the content is related to a nonchargeable activity.
The financial information below summarizes the chargeable and non-chargeable expenses with corresponding percentages for each level.
Source: 2019 Audited Financial Statements
MNA Member Dues for 2021
MNA member dues will increase from $70 per month to $72.70 per month for 2021
Annual dues rates are calculated based on the change in the average starting pay of bargaining unit contracts. If the average starting pay increases, your MNA dues will increase on January 1 of each year. Dues rates for 2021 are based on the average
change in starting pay rates on December 31, 2019 MNA dues for non-RNs will increase from $21.83-$43 67 per month to $25.20-$50.40 per month
Bargaining unit members who work less than 832 hours per year may be eligible for reduced dues at 50 percent of the regular dues rate. Dues for registered nurse members who do not belong to an MNA bargaining unit are also 50 percent of the regular dues rates.
An Associate Membership option is available for registered nurses who are not represented by MNA for collective bargaining, who wish to have access to MNA for volunteer activities, but with no additional membership rights. Student nurses enrolled in an RN Nursing program are also eligible for Associate Membership.
The annual and monthly dues rates for the various categories of dues payers are listed below. If you have any questions related to your MNA dues, please contact the MNA office and ask for a Membership Account Specialist.
Note: Bargaining Unit members that work less than 832 hours per year may be eligible for reduced dues at 50% of the regular dues rate.
Salaries/Benefits - 60%
MNA Dues Allocation - 2%
Travel/Meetings - 5%
Office Lease/Insurance/Depreciation - 4%
Affiliation Fees (NNU/AFL-CIO) - 12%
Negotiating Payments/Professional Fees - 8%
Office Operations/Overhead - 9%
Source: 2021 Projected
Annual Dues 1 $872.40 ($72.70/mo.)
Less: NNU Per Capita Dues (Red Slice) 2 <87.30>
Less: AFL-CIO State & Regional Federations (Average, Red Slice) <14.00>
Member Dues Allocation (Strike, MNAF, MNA PC; Light Blue Slice) <20.00>
Amount Available for MNA Operations $751.10 ($62.60/mo.)
1 Annual dues will be 50 percent less for collective bargaining members working less than 832 hours per year and non-collective bargaining members.
