DEER RIVER — Negotiations continue between union members at Essentia Health-Deer River and the health care organization. Employees returned to work after a five-day strike that ended Saturday, Nov. 9.
An eight-hour mediation session Tuesday seems to have been largely unproductive; the two sides still disagree on contract length, pay and wage scales. Both sides have requested new dates for mediation.
The pace of negotiation is one indicator of the differences that remain between union and employer. Kayla Schwankl, an internal organizer for the Service Employees International Union who represents the Deer River workers, said the first proposal from Essentia during the most recent mediation session didn’t come until midday.
“When we sent our counter proposal around 2, between 2 and 2:30 in the afternoon, just before 4 o’clock we heard from the mediator that the management was not agreeable to our proposal but did not bring us a counter-proposal,” she said.
Essentia Health spokesperson Kim Kaiser said they’re committed to making progress at the table.
“Ultimately, we’re committed to reaching a resolution that both honors the great work of our colleagues who are represented by SEIU and also helps to preserve high-quality local health care in Deer River,” she said.
Essentia gave two options in the proposal: adopt a new wage structure with the same wage increases across the board or maintain the existing structure of two wage grids but with lower increases.
Kaiser said the first option “simplifies” the wage structure as a way to be responsive to the union’s “higher across-the-board increases.” It also doesn’t rely on step increases that are only triggered if employees work a certain number of hours.
“So, under this proposal, all colleagues — whether they are part time or full time — would get a percentage increase of 11.25% over three years,” Kaiser said. “And the beauty of this is that it benefits the majority of the unit because almost three-fourths of them are part time and may not be eligible for the step increases.”
Schwankl said the union is not open to eliminating their wage grids, which she said make it easier to plan future wages without having to calculate increases themselves.
The union is also proposing changing the existing structure, so the two scales have the same number of steps. Right now, the clerical and service scale, which includes jobs like nutrition services assistant, laundry aide and nursing assistant has nine steps. The technical grid, with roles like licensed practical nurse, medical technician and maintenance engineer, has 17.
Kaiser said the union is asking for the equivalent of a 10% increase in one year. Schwankl said it is 7% overall.
Schwankl said in some spots, the current wage proposal is lower than Essentia's original one.
“It’s kind of disheartening for the members to see they had already offered more money back in August, and now they’re offering less to those spots,” she said.
The two sides also disagree on contract length. Essentia wants to stick with the standard three-year contract, which spokesperson Kim Kaiser said provides security for employees and patients.
“A three-year contract helps our colleagues because then they know what to expect with their wages and benefits over the course of three years, and it also provides our patients the security of knowing that their caregivers and their care teams will be here to care for them,” she said.
The union is proposing a one-year contract in anticipation of nursing home worker minimum wage standards from the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry that will begin in 2026.
Schwankl used a licensed practical nurse as an example. The union is asking for a starting wage of $22.50 an hour. Essentia proposed $22.20, increasing to $23.32 in 2026. The standard proposed by the state is $27.
“When we are being told that we’re being unrealistic and it’s not sustainable for the community, we know that it’s not — we're not being outrageous,” Schwankl said.
Essentia said it will honor the DIL rules, Schwankl said, which will set a minimum wage for all nursing home workers ($19) in addition to higher minimums for certified nursing assistants ($22.50), trained medication aides ($23.50) and licensed practical nurses ($27).
But, she said, the rules will affect more than just the nursing home, Deer River-Homestead, which is connected to the hospital. Here, Schwankl used the example of a cook. Under Essentia’s proposal, a cook working for the hospital would start at $17.34 an hour in 2026.
“This person that’s working in the kitchen is actually cooking for the nursing home but is employed by the hospital because the nursing home would end up basically paying the hospital for the services,” she said.
“So now that kitchen person is not actually benefiting, even though they’re working in the nursing home.”
Kaiser wanted to emphasize Essentia is trying to protect access to rural health care.
“We know that health care in rural areas is challenged, and we are just asking the SEIU to partner with us on a realistic, sustainable contract that both upholds good local jobs and also protects access to high-quality rural health care,” she said.
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