St. Paul, MN— Service Employee International Union Healthcare Minnesota (SEIU HC MN) has reached a tentative contract agreement with eight metro-area hospitals, thus averting a strike that was authorized by union members earlier this week. The affected hospitals include: Fairview Southdale Hospital in Edina, Fairview Riverside Hospital in Minneapolis, Children’s Hospitals in Minneapolis and St. Paul, HealthEast Bethesda Hospital in St. Paul, HealthEast St. John’s Hospital in Maplewood, North Memorial Hospital in Robbinsdale, and Park Nicollet/Methodist Hospital in St. Louis Park.
Details of the agreement will not be released until the members of SEIU Healthcare Minnesota have had an opportunity to review and vote on them.
“While we did not achieve all that our members deserve for the work we do every day to improve our patients lives – by standing together we fought back the most outrageous cuts that would have driven the lowest paid workers in our hospitals into poverty,” says Tee McClenty, SEIU’s chief negotiator. “We will keep organizing and fighting the corporations that want to run our non-profit hospitals like for-profit institutions,” she adds.
On Monday and Tuesday this week, members of the Service Employees International Union Healthcare Minnesota (SEIU HCMN,) overwhelmingly (91%) voted in favor of a strike—sending a strong message to hospitals entering into contract talks again on Wednesday morning.
Negotiators representing both workers and the hospitals met all day long on Wednesday, the day after SEIU members voted to authorize a strike. Voting on the tentative agreement is scheduled for next week.
*The 3,500 workers affected by this tentative agreement include: nursing assistants, ER techs maintenance and food service personnel, clerks, warehouse staff, environmental services staff and others.
