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Essentia Deer River Bargaining Updates

News and Updates from Essentia Deer River Bargaining

December Open Ended ULP Strike

Strike Flyer

ULP Strike Details

Essentia Deer River Members File ULP Strike Notice

On November 30, SEIU Members at Essentia Deer River filed a 10-day notice to conduct an open-ended ULP strike starting Monday, December 9th.

Sarah Roberts, a 20+ year healthcare worker who has been a Certified Surgical Tech at Deer River for nearly three years and part of the bargaining team, shared her perspective on why workers are taking this step:

“Despite many bargaining sessions, we are still not close to getting us to competitive wages. We do the same work as other facilities and are tired of not getting paid the same. We felt so supported by the community and other unions during our November strike, but clearly we aren’t feeling that same level of support from our employer with so little movement at the bargaining table. We’ve seen such a reduction in staffing levels and are so overworked. It is unacceptable that we are so undervalued. It seems like in order for them to take us seriously we are having to take this step to file for our ULP strike.”

The group held a successful Five-Day ULP Strike in early November, but subsequent bargaining has seen the employer refusing to back off key issues including:

  1. management’s proposal to allow non-unit workers to float in to do work (including at higher rates of pay) in a manner that would undermine long-time union workers in the community;
  2. sub-standard wage proposals that do not recognize the essential work done by these workers and do not address lost buying power from inflation over the past 3 years. The employer’s proposals are 5% less – on average – than what has been agreed to by all other Minnesota Health systems that reached agreements this year.

November 5-Day ULP Strike

Strike Flyer

On Thursday, 10/24/24 a 10 day ULP Strike notice was given at Deer River Essentia Health.

The strike will begin on 11/4/24 at 7am and continue until 11/9/24 at 7am. We have 2 strike shifts Monday through Friday, the AM shift is 7am to 12pm and the PM shift is from 12pm to 4pm. Pay will be 75% of wage,

For warm up and bathroom breaks, we will be using the Deer River Family Church of God that is just down the road from where we will be picketing, also a member will bring is big fish house that can be used for warming up in!

For lunches, we are working on what to order and also doing potlucks at the church!

If you have any questions, reach out to the bargaining team or Kayla Schwankl at 218-270-9176

Bargaining Team:
Janelle Denny – Sterile Processing
Sarah Jo Roberts – Surgical Tech
Mindy Jensen – MLT Lab
Becky Shereck – Radiology Tech
Nicole York – Pharmacy Tech
Kristi Giffin – Cook
Melissa Picket – N/A in Nursing Home