St. Paul, MN – After more than two months of negotiating, HealthPartners management failed to address the safe staffing concerns of more than 1,500 registered nurses, pharmacists, nurse practitioners, lab techs, physicians assistants, nurse midwives, and other caregivers at 29 metro area HealthPartners clinics.

We need a real voice in patient care and safe staffing levels, said Kate Lynch, a Licensed Practical Nurse at HealthPartners Arden Hills Clinic. We owe it to our patients to take a stand to ensure we are providing the best possible care. Ignoring the voice of caregivers will not lead to the best patient outcomes.

HealthPartners should be leading the charge for improved collaboration with frontline caregivers, not blocking it, said Jean Pfarr, a Registered Nurse at HealthPartners Specialty Center in St. Paul & HealthPartners Como Clinic also in St. Paul.

Members of the SEIU Healthcare Minnesota negotiating team have presented HealthPartners with a safe staffing proposal that would establish a Patient Care committee with representation from frontline caregivers and management. To ensure the concerns are addressed and not set aside, any issue that cannot be resolved by the committee will be submitted to a mutually agreed upon third party arbitrator for resolution.

SEIU Healthcare Minnesota will take part in a two-day strike on Wednesday, February 13th and Thursday, February 14th unless an agreement is reached beforehand.

The collective bargaining agreement between SEIU Healthcare Minnesota members and HealthPartners expired at 11:59PM on Thursday, January 31, 2008. No future negotiation dates have been set