Overworked’: US nurses strike over low pay, staffing shortages

About 15,000 nurses in state of Minnesota begin three-day strike, one of the largest of its kind in US history.

Published On 12 Sep 202212 Sep 2022

Approximately 15,000 private sector nurses in the US state of Minnesota have launched a three-day strike as they push for higher pay and better staffing in a healthcare system that has been stretched to its limits during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The nurses walked off the job on Monday in seven healthcare systems in Minneapolis and Duluth, mounting picket lines, chanting slogans and holding signs bearing messages such as “Patients Before Profits”.

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The stoppage was set to last until Thursday morning, according to a spokesperson for the Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA), which was coordinating the action, and will affect 16 hospitals.

“Hospital executives have already driven nurses away from the bedside by their refusal to solve the crises of staffing and retention in our hospitals,” the union’s negotiating team said in a statement, adding that nurses are “understaffed and overworked”.

The strike, which the MNA said is believed to be the largest of its kind in United States history, highlights the persistent problems that US healthcare workers face, such as low pay and staffing shortages.

The pandemic has exacerbated many of those issues, and the sector has lost about 37,000 workers since February 2020, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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The hospitals and the striking nurses have said staff shortages are an area of mutual concern, but the union has accused the management of dragging its feet during negotiations.

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