A steady stream of honking horns from vehicles passing in front of the Rainy Lake Medical Center hospital campus could be heard Tuesday in support of an informational picket.

Nurses and supporters lined Highway 71 holding signs requesting the rights to protect patient safety and disagreeing with management rights during a two-hour picket over an unsettled contract.

According to Diane Olek, who has been a registered nurse for 47 years, a 27-member bargaining unit, of which she is a member, has been negotiating a contract that expired Oct. 31 with management since September.

“The only stickler we're having right now is they want to implement a management rights clause into our contract,” she said. “We have real concerns about that because (management) wants to limit what we can talk to them about.”

The clause, nurses fear, could lead to administration perceiving it has the power to make decisions impacting nursing practice and patient safety.

In a world where health care is rapidly changing, Olek said there is no way to see into the future what issues may arise on which nurses would want to approach management personnel.

“We want to provide safe patient care,” she said. “When you close communication off between two professionals, that does not help our stance for patients.”

RLMC CEO Dan Odegaard did not comment about the picket, however, a statement provided to The Journal from Kelly Millerbernd, RLMC marketing and foundation coordinator, said RLMC was informed by the Minnesota Nurses Association the major issue is one of the employer’s proposals that outlines the rights of the parties.

“It explains that the union has the rights as outlined in the collective bargaining agreement and that the management’s rights are restricted by the language in the collective bargaining agreement,” the statement said. “RLMC already has a management’s rights section with two locals of American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, which covers all other unionized RLMC employees other than registered nurses.”

Olek said during negotiations, management has assured the bargaining unit they will talk to staff about “anything they legally have to.”

“But, if it's not something they legally have to talk to us about, they don't have to talk to us about it,” she said. “That really concerns a lot of our nurses because we really want to make sure we're delivering safe patient care...The younger nurses especially foresee this as a problem down the road.”

Millerbernd's statement said over the course of negotiations, both parties have been able to reach tentative agreements on many proposals and hope an “acceptable” contract can be reached in the future.

“RLMC continues to be committed to providing the best possible quality care to our patients,” it said.

Olek stressed Tuesday's movement was not a strike, but rather a way for the community to understand nurses “are here for them.”

“I love my job and I love what I do,” she said. “I want nothing but success for this hospital, but to achieve that, we need to keep the lines of communication going with our management.”