Nurse Strike in Minnesota - Update

Today, the Minneapolis nurses are voting to see whether they will go on a longer strike. Its a sad thing that they feel forced to make such a vote because a compromise cannot be reached with the Minneapolis hospitals.

I am sure that all of the nurses feel torn inside as they have all devoted their life to provide the best patient care possible.

According to the Star Tribune, the hospitals in a statement said, "There is no benefit to a strike and we saw that on June 10," said Maureen Schriner, a spokeswoman for the hospitals. "We need to have contract negotiations that recognize the reality of the health care environment."

True as it may be, there is always a way for both parties to come to an agreement. Yes, the economy may be difficult at the moment but that excuse is always used by companies. If they look deep and hard enough in the budget and in the books, they can find a way to meet the nurses halfway. Do the executives and so on really need to have an budget for travel expenses and remodelling their offices?

Perhaps its time for both groups to look at the hospital budget and see how this can all be worked out by seeing how money can be diverted or share into hiring more nurses. Perhaps the hopsital could also see on how they can create more money thru fund raisers and such.

The point is that yes, it is possible to make come up with a compromise if both parties are willing. I'm sure that if hospitals involved like, the Children's Hospital in Minneapolis, agreed to add 200 or so more nurses to the staff and with the promise to add more nurses once the economy reaches a certain point, the nurses would agree to it.