Why 15,000 nurses went on strike in Minnesota - PBS NewsHour

[TexasTowelie]

Nurses in Minnesota organized the largest strike of private sector nurses in U.S. history this past week, with 15,000 nurses walking off the job for three days. And while the pandemic pushed many nurses to the brink, some say the burnout was years in the making. Kelley Honest, a nurse from the Minnesota strike, and Jean Ross, president of National Nurses United, join Geoff Bennett to discuss.

[Warpy]

1. Yeah, playing hardball and striking is just so UNLADYLIKE

Things got steadily worse over the 25 years I spent in the trenches, cost cutting happening on the backs of nursing, housekeeping, and other "hospital frills" where the MBA running the place thought labor costs were too high.

And note they all go for the lowest common denominator when it comes to staffing, while ignoring the studies that say every patient above the safe staffing ratio a nurse has to care for can increase the overall unit mortality rate, often by a lot.

Here's an article on safe staffing ratios and they're lower than you think: https://www.nationalnursesunited.org/sites/default/files/nnu/documents/0421_Ratios_Federal_FactSheet.pdf