Little progress in negotiations between nurses and hospitals
Science Lorna Benson · ·   1. Listen Nurses negotiations  Nurses
picket   The last of the scheduled bargaining sessions between
Minnesota nurses and Twin Cities hospitals concluded Thursday
without significant progress on the main issue that divides
them: patient safety.  Nurses want hospitals to agree to limits
on the number of patients that nurses must care for during their
shifts. But Twin Cities Hospitals say the limits aren't
necessary because they already provide some of the safest
patient care in the nation. They also say the nurses' proposal
is too expensive.  The bargaining impasse will come to a head
Wednesday when nurses vote on whether to ratify the hospitals'
contract offer, or reject it. Nursing leaders say their members
are willing to walk off the job over the staffing issue.  It's
hard to overstate the difference of opinion between hospitals
and nurses when it comes to patient safety. Hospitals say their
staffing practices have not