Essentia Health bargaining sessions continued with with hospice workers at Solvay Hospice House on Friday, July 18th. The unfair labor strike for nurses and other healthcare workers started the week of July 8th and is ongoing. Several clinic nurses and staff are negotiating their ‘first-year’ contracts, since they’re part of a new collective bargaining agreement.

There are seven different clinics in the Twin Ports that Essentia Health is having bargaining sessions with. Some groups, like the Solvay Hospice House have been bargaining for months. Julie Flotten has served on the negotiation committee for first year nurses. She says there has been some progress, but nothing substantial enough for a tentative agreement.

“We just want to see good faith bargaining. Essentia just doesn’t seem to be wanting to do that in a timely manner. To get these folks back to work doing what they love to do and what they’re really good at. If we stand together and we’re respectful from another a lot of really great things can happen,” Flotten said. “The outcome can be great and we can be very powerful. Despite feeling like we’re pretty small in the shadow of the building.”

One group of healthcare workers that feel like they’ve been left in the shadows are the Advanced Practice Providers. They voted to unionize and be represented by MNA, almost a year ago. One of the providers, Brittany Ortler says Essentia does not want to negotiate. She added that Essentia is waiting for the National Labor Relation Board finishes their review of MNA representing the APPs.

“We haven’t had a chance to sit at the table with Essentia Health, and that is our ask. Our ask is that, ideally, they would drop the appeal to the NLRB and bargain with us. At least conditionally bargain with us. We haven’t been given that opportunity yet,” Ortler said. “There are APPs now who are traveling all across the region. That’s why we truly believe in having one union because of our geographical locations and things. So just having more of a sense of where people may be working on a day-to-day basis.”

Christie Erickson is Essentia Health’s Director of Advance Practice. She along with others negotiating on for of Essentia say APPs are sent to help at different clinics based on the greatest need. If the Advance Practice Providers were unionized and represented by MNA. Then Essentia couldn’t assign them to travel and care for patients in hospitals and medical centers across the northland.

“We’re appealing to the highest level with the NLRB, the National Labor Relations Board. It’s gonna impact patients and communities for decades to come. The total numbers are just over 400 advanced practice providers who are affected by this in total,” Erickson said. “Up to 50% of our clinic visits and 90% of our urgent care visits are done by advanced practice providers. So there are a lot of state communities with a stake in this conversation.”

Erickson added that the labor strike has not impacted the well-being of patients. Throughout the strike, other traveling healthcare professionals have been filling in until the NLRB finishes their review of MNA and the APPs.

“We’ve got some great teams that are operations and clinical teams have been working tirelessly to ensure that there’s as little interruption as possible in all of this. So we’ve been pulling on the entire Essentia team, physicians helping out, other APPs helping out, folks from even our Fargo area helping out to ensure that we have people here to care for our patients and provide the care that they need.”

There are still several other ongoing negotiations happening between Essentia Health and the Minnesota Nurses Association. Next week on July 23rd, MNA will bargain on behalf of the nurses from the Duluth Clinic 3rd street.

Also here is another update regarding the APPs and Clinic Workers.

For Related Stories: Essentia Health  Minnesota Nurses Association  Minnesota Nurses Strike  MNA  William Lien