Allina, Nurses Resume Contract Talks Monday

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Contract talks are set to resume in the hopes of avoiding a strike by nearly 5,000 nurses at five hospitals in the Minneapolis area.

Negotiators from the Minnesota Nurses Association and Allina Health on Friday agreed to a federal mediator's request to resume negotiations, which they'll do on Monday.

The nurses rejected Allina's latest contract offer on Monday, saying it would shift too much of the company's health care costs to the nurses. Union leaders have set a one-week strike to begin June 19 by nurses at Abbott Northwestern, Phillips Eye Institute, United, Mercy and Unity hospitals.

Allina has said its metro-area hospitals will remain open if the nurses go on strike.

The walkout would be the first in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area since a one-day strike in 2010.