MNA welcomes upwards of 700 nurses into union so far this year
By Lauren Bloomquist
National Nurse magazine - July | August | September 2024 Issue
Since the start of 2024, the Minnesota Nurses Association has welcomed more than 700 new members.
In late November 2023, advanced practice providers (APPs) at Essentia Health’s East Market locations announced their intent to unionize with MNA. The Essentia East Market extends throughout northeastern Minnesota and over into northwestern Wisconsin. The group, including nurse practitioners, physician associates, nurse midwives, and clinical nurse specialists, recognized that they needed to unionize in order to have a stronger voice in their workplace to help address issues with compensation, work-life balance, and patient loads. The APPs’ election was delayed for months as Essentia challenged the composition of the proposed bargaining unit through the legal process laid out by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Despite Essentia’s best efforts to slow the process, workers held strong and were ultimately successful in voting yes to join MNA in July 2024.
“What we have done is historic,” said Brittany Ortler, a nurse practitioner at Essentia Health East Market in Duluth. “We are a unified group of over 400 APPs, and I hope that the work we have done will pave the way for consideration of unionization among APPs across the state and nation. One voice can make a difference, but many voices together can make a change.”
Following the Essentia APPs announcement last fall, the registered nurses at Essentia Health Duluth’s 1st Street Clinic filed for a union election to join MNA in December. Then in January, the 2nd Street Clinic nurses followed suit. “I’m feeling energized from the positive connection and camaraderie with my coworkers,” said Jackie Thorn, an Infusion RN at 1st Street Clinic after the group won their vote. “Now that we are unified, I know that our goals of fairness, pay equity and retention can be achieved!” In late February, the 2nd Street Clinic nurses voted unanimously to join MNA as well.
Down in the Twin Cities metro area, nurses at Allina Health Cancer Institute (AHCI) voted to join their fellow union siblings across Allina facilities in Minnesota. AHCI nurses saw the need to unionize after Allina executives closed the inpatient infusion center at another hospital, routing patients with complex care needs to AHCI oncology infusion nurses without offering additional guidance, training, or equipment. “We look forward to moving into negotiations to ensure a safe patient care environment, for accountability from Allina, a healthy work-life balance for all our nurses, and to have our voices heard,” said Lisa Fox, a registered nurse at AHCI Oncology Infusion.
Later in the spring, MNA welcomed even more new members as Essentia 3rd Street Clinic workers, Essentia Duluth Solvay House workers, Essentia Duluth Surgery Center nurses, Essentia Stat Docs, and Essentia Superior Clinic nurses in Wisconsin all announced that they would be joining MNA. And in North Dakota, case managers in Bismarck also announced that they were filing to join MNA.
Workers at each of these facilities were spurred on to their unionization efforts due to issues with working conditions, scheduling, patient care conditions, nurse retention, and needing a voice in their workplaces.
“A lot of us became nurses to help others and care for those in need. We give our time, heart, and soul to our careers in the hopes that Essentia will support us as we care for the community,” said Laura Stern, RN at Essentia 3rd Street Clinic. “We are unionizing as we feel a lack of support in staffing to be able to provide safe patient care. As we consume previous full-time jobs into our already full-time roles, we believe unionizing will help us to prioritize patients over profits.”
Each of these groups of workers won their union election and have been welcomed as new MNA members. These 700 workers now join their 22,000 MNA union siblings as they begin the process of bargaining their first contracts with their employers.