Nurses in Duluth return to negotiating table today
by Bob Kelleher, Minnesota Public RadioDuluth, Minn. — Contract talks resume Wednesday between one of two Duluth hospital organizations and its nurses.
Duluth's SMDC Health system is returning to the negotiating table with a federal mediator and representatives for more than 700 nurses who work in the system's two Duluth hospitals.
The mediator asked both sides to return to negotiations last week, after the union's 1,300 nurses rejected contract offers from SMDC and Duluth's St. Luke's hospital. The nurses also approved a one-day strike, although no strike date has been set.
SMDC nurses are holding out for a stronger say on staffing levels saying they could violate terms of their nursing licenses by accepting too many patients. Meanwhile, representatives of St. Luke's hospital and more than 400 nurses meet with the mediator next Tuesday.
Bob Kelleher
• ReporterBob Kelleher joined MPR's Duluth News staff in 1990, after three years with a Duluth commercial radio station, and several years on broadcast stations in Iowa.
