Minnesota nurses who voted overwhelmingly two weeks ago to authorize a strike say they’ll announce the subsequent step of their push for a brand new contract on Thursday.

About 15,000 union nurses at 15 hospitals within the Twin Cities and Twin Ports have to provide 10 days notice of their intent to walk off the job. Hospitals would need to call in temporary staff as a way to proceed to supply care.

An announcement of the nurses’ next steps is planned for 8:30 a.m. Thursday on the union headquarters in St. Paul.

Leaders of the Minnesota Nurses Association and hospital officials have been negotiating for brand spanking new contracts for five months. Hospital leaders have urged the nurses union to make use of a mediator, but to date the 2 sides haven’t.

Nurses say hospital leadership has refused to handle their concerns about staffing shortages, retention and patient safety. Roughly one in five nurses have left the occupation throughout the pandemic as a consequence of burnout and other concerns.

Hospital officials say they need to handle nurses’ concerns and have offered generous double-digit pay increases over the proposed three-year contract. They’ve called a few of the contract requests  “unrealistic” and “unaffordable.”

That is the primary time nurses from the Twin Cities and Twin Ports have teamed up at this scale in contract negotiations. In the event that they determine to strike it could be certainly one of the biggest nurses strikes in history.

Within the metro, hospitals affected are: Abbott Northwestern, Mercy, United, Unity, Children’s Minneapolis, Children’s St. Paul, Methodist, Riverside, Southdale, St. Joe’s, St. John’s and North Memorial. Those hospitals are a part of the Allina, Children’s Minnesota, HealthPartners, M Health Fairview and North Memorial systems.