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Dear friend,
It is Labor Day. In 2022, people are successfully organizing. Labor unions are supported by a wide majority of Americans, according to a recent Gallup poll. None of this is a surprise given the challenges of the past few years for educators, retail workers, meat packers, janitors, assembly line workers and more. The labor of countless Minnesotans carried us through the worst of the pandemic and workers are organizing now for their safety and prosperity.
Minnesota's nurses announced their intent to strike just before Labor Day weekend. In one week, they will take the difficult step of walking away from hospitals in the Twin Cities and Duluth. They will do this because they see it as necessary as negotiations stall, leaving much needed solutions unresolved.
As I listen to professional nurses, it is clear that at its heart this decision to strike is about patient care and safety. It is about upholding the high quality of care we expect for ourselves and our loved ones when they get sick. How hospital executives regard the concerns of its nursing staff tells its own story. If nurses across the state are raising flags about quality and safety, those concerns should be on the table. I hope that they are. The response to this strike will be telling, a reflection of how hospital's corporate executives view the care patients receive. The solutions are clear: wage increases to retain workers and a commitment to safe staffing, including staff nurses who provide the care. Upholding high quality care is a shared commitment, one that should be a part of the shared solution.
It is right to listen to what nurses tell us, to work towards a future where those who enter or continue to work in the nursing field are equipped with what they need to succeed. It's essential, because lives are on the line. We need our nurses.
Over the course of the last two years, more than a million Americans have died from COVID. We are emerging from the worst of the pandemic, a pandemic that has taken a unique toll on health care workers, with an opportunity to repair and significantly improve the working conditions in the places where Minnesotans are cared for. Nurses have been clear for some time about their needs in our hospitals. We've heard similar cries from other sectors including educators, child care workers, home care workers, and those who provide care in nursing homes and group homes for people with disabilities. The status quo of market-driven business models for these essential services is hurting workers who are critical to our communities. They are the glue that holds us together.
I believe in building that future where our workers are taken care of so they can take care of us, a future in which their labor is valued because we rely on it. On Labor Day, I join workers across the state and the nation, in solidarity. I honor their work and I remain committed to this fight, our fight, for our future.
In solidarity,
Erin