DULUTH — Northern Minnesota advanced health care workers voted to authorize an unfair labor practice strike Monday, June 23.
A strike authorization doesn’t mean a strike will happen. But it does allow the negotiating team to call for a strike.
Advanced practice providers, or APPs, from Essentia Health facilities in the northeastern and north-central parts of the state voted to join the Minnesota Nurses Association in 2024.
The multi-facility bargaining unit was certified by the National Labor Relations Board, but MNA said Essentia is violating federal labor law by refusing to begin negotiations for a first contract. MNA said there are also concerns about intimidation and refusal to provide information.
Essentia asked the national office to review the regional labor office's decision to allow the union, which it said ignores years of case law.
"Essentia is not bargaining with the Minnesota Nurses Association’s proposed unit of APPs because it is uniquely problematic and wrongly constituted as outlined under the National Labor Review Board’s Health Care Rule," an Essentia spokesperson told KAXE in a Tuesday email.
"A strike will not change that reality or speed up the legal review process.”
In its request for review, Essentia highlights the scale of the bargaining unit: over 400 providers across nine hospitals and 60 clinics. Essentia has also argued that clinic and hospital employees should not be in one voting group and that the unit should seek to represent all professional employees, not just APPs.
An MNA spokesperson said it is unusual for an employer to take a case this far. It's also unusual not to start negotiations while the appeal is ongoing.
APPs include nurse practitioners, physician assistants, certified nurse midwives and clinical nurse specialists.
Essentia's East Market stretches from the Brainerd lakes area to Ashland, Wisconsin, north to International Falls and south to Pierz. It includes facilities along the Iron Range and in Grand Rapids, Deer River, Hackensack and Ely.
Essentia said in the East Market, 44% of all patient encounters are with an APP, and 88% of all urgent care encounters are with an APP.
APPs were one of three separate groups within MNA that authorized strikes.
Nurses and health care workers in the Duluth area make up the other two.
MNA said in a news release that it will continue to bargain in good faith before striking. If a strike is called, nurses will provide the legally required 10-day notice.
In unfair labor practice strikes, employers cannot permanently replace workers.
"[Nurses, APPs and health care workers] are still seeking a solution, and believe one is possible if healthcare leadership stops committing unfair labor practices and begins to take their issues seriously," the union stated.
