Members of SEIU Healthcare Minnesota & Iowa at the Mayo Clinic Hospital Methodist Campus in Rochester, Minn., have voted to cancel a voluntary supplemental “no strike” agreement in future labor contract negotiations for approximately 600 workers.
On April 10, 87% of union members voted to end their right to arbitration and gain the ability to strike, Hallie Wallace, a local Service Employees International Union negotiator, said in a Facebook post.
Ms. Wallace noted that union members have signed arbitration agreements “pretty much every time” since the 1970s, but “that dynamic between the union and Mayo Clinic has changed greatly.”
“We are not the ones that are ramping things up,” she said. “It’s the changes in the way that Mayo Clinic is running their hospital and treating their employees over the last 10 years that has been a huge attack on the people who work here.”
Union members, including sterile processing technicians, certified surgical technologists, linen workers, environmental technicians, patient escorts, maintenance workers and patient care assistants, have been bargaining a contract for the past three months, according to an SEIU news release shared with Becker’s.
The current contract expired Jan. 31 and is continuing as-is on an interim basis during negotiations.
While progress at the bargaining table has been made on some issues, wide differences still remain, the union said.
In 2024, the union negotiated a one-year agreement that included wages of at least $20 per hour for about 600 workers. SEIU now wants remaining members to be paid at that threshold, in addition to subsequent wage increases, according to The Minnesota Star Tribune.
Mayo Clinic shared the following statement with Becker’s:
“Mayo Clinic continues to be committed to supporting our staff and reaching a mutually beneficial agreement through the bargaining process.”
The vote at Methodist comes as SEIU members at Mayo Clinic Hospital St. Marys Campus voted in 2024 for the right to strike in future contract negotiations.
The union and St. Marys also entered into arbitration in September 2024 after choosing to end negotiations and move forward with arbitration, according to the Tribune. A new collective bargaining agreement between St. Marys and SEIU was finalized April 11 through third-party arbitration. Read the full decision here.
