Nurses strikes cost Allina more than $100 million
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Two nurses strikes at five Twin Cities hospitals this year cost Allina Health well over $100 million dollars.
The company transported, housed and paid more than 1,000 replacement nurses each time.
The first strike in June lasted one week and cost Allina $20 million according to disclosures. The second strike began in early September and lasted through mid-October.
The new financial report covers operations only through the end of September. It shows the health system spent $84 million in the first three-and-a-half weeks of a five-and-a-half week walkout.
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The total cost to Allina won't be clear until the company's year-end financial report.
Allina's expenses are "a staggering amount of money" to spend on fighting its workers, said Rose Roach, Minnesota Nurses Association executive director.
Allina Spokesman David Kanihan said the costs are regrettable, but the new contract will save Allina more than $10 million dollars a year on nurses' health insurance.
"While we had hoped to avoid these costs, at the end of the day we now have a sustainable cost structure for our health insurance benefits," Kanihan said.
"We didn't want a strike but when a strike is called, it is clearly our obligation and responsibility to continue to meet the care needs of our community so the investment was absolutely necessary," he added.
