President’s Column

Hope for the future

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!

MNA Visions, Values, and Strategic Pathways for 2021 MNA Mission Statement

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.

MNA Purpose

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 Vision and Values

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.

Strategic Pathways

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.

MNA President speaks at frontline workers roundtable with Presdent-elect Joe Biden

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

At the Capitol

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.

Nursing Practice and Education

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.