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As thousands of Twin Cities hospital nurses represented by the Minnesota Nurses Association went on an open-ended strike last week, their employer, Allina Health, brought in 1,500 traveling nurses — recruited and paid through staffing agencies — to operate its four metro-area hospitals and a clinic. The replacement nurses traveled from across the country to fill in at United Hospital in St. Paul, Abbott Northwestern in Minneapolis, Unity in Fridley and Mercy in Coon Rapids, plus the Phillips Eye Institute in Minneapolis. (Cooney, 9/14)

In a new tactic to pressure Allina Health, striking nurses are seizing on an advocacy group’s report that says the hospital system lost millions of dollars borrowing in capital markets — wasting money that otherwise could improve pay, benefits and patient care. At a news conference Wednesday, the Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) highlighted the report, “Time to Pay the Piper,” produced by the Chicago-based ReFund America Project. (Olson, 9/14)