Clinic nurses and advanced practice providers at Duluth, Minn.-based Essentia Health — all of whom are members of the Minnesota Nurses Association — plan to end their strikes on July 23 and July 22, respectively.
Six things to know:
1. More than 300 clinic nurses, surgery center nurses and hospice healthcare workers began an open-ended strike July 8, an MNA spokesperson confirmed to Becker’s. The workers are spread across Essentia’s 1st Street Clinic, 2nd Street Clinic, 3rd Street Clinic, Superior Clinic, Solvay Hospice House and Miller Hill Surgery Center.
2. After federal mediation, Essentia agreed to negotiate contracts for 3rd Street and Superior clinic nurses concurrently with the 1st Street and 2nd Street units — while maintaining separate agreements — beginning July 28, according to Essentia. Clinic nurses will return to work as soon as July 23, depending on department, location and contract timing, Essentia said.
3. More than 400 advanced practice providers in Essentia’s East Market began striking July 10, according to a July 22 MNA news release shared with Becker’s.
The group will return to work based on department and patients needs, the system said.
4. Essentia has appealed the composition of the advanced practice providers as a single bargaining unit to the National Labor Relations Board, saying it is inconsistent with the board’s Health Care Rule, as members are spread across multiple hospitals and clinics.
5. The legitimacy of the bargaining unit is pending before the NLRB, which is unable to vote because one member was dismissed by President Donald Trump. He has nominated new appointees who could allow the board to block or approve the union group, but confirmation could take months, The Minnesota Star Tribune reported July 18.
A regional board director previously ruled the group could be represented as a single bargaining unit, which Essentia appealed to the national board, according to the Star Tribune.
6. The MNA said the appeal should not stall negotiations.
“These providers formed a legally certified union, and ignoring their voice is unlawful and shortsighted,” the union said in the release.
Essentia said it appealed the unit’s compositions due to potential risks to patient care if all the clinicians were unavailable due to a strike.
“The matter is pending before the NLRB, and the union has called on Essentia to waive its legal right to appeal,” the system said. “Essentia has clearly and consistently communicated that it will not waive its legal rights and that a strike would not speed up the legal review process.”
