Collective Bargaining

Collective bargaining in today’s health care environment is about more than wages and benefits. It is about patient advocacy, protecting nursing practice, safe staffing levels and ensuring a safe and healthy work environment for registered nurses and health care professionals.

The MNA has led the nation in its efforts to win important protections for nurses and their patients. Through collective bargaining, MNA has achieved the following contract language:

• Prevent Mandatory Overtime (now in several contracts)
• Prevent deskilling (UAPs)
• Limit non-nursing duties
• Prevent inappropriate floating
• Establish staffing guidelines and ratios
• Regulate introduction of new technologies
• Improve health and safety (i.e. safer needle systems, workplace violence prevention)
• Provide retiree health benefit (new)
• Prevention of outsourcing and union security if facility is sold