UNIONS

Duluth nurses join statewide plea for safe staffing

Brielle Bredsten — Wed, 04 Jun 2025 21:59:11 GMT

DULUTH — Nurses and advanced practice providers in Duluth held an informational picket Wednesday at Essentia Health and Aspirus St. Luke’s, calling on administrators to address issues of understaffing, unsafe conditions and patient care over profits.

Contracts between the health care systems and the Minnesota Nurses Association are set to expire June 30.

Motorists honked their horns as community members and local politicians, including Mayor Roger Reinert and state Sen. Jen McEwen, DFL-Duluth, turned out to show support.

“It’s not just about the health care that these two systems provide, anchored in Duluth, yet covering a region that encompasses several states,” Reinert said. “But also about these high-quality, good-paying jobs that are in our community. Many of the members live in Duluth and in our neighboring communities.

A lot of nurses suffer from PTSD. When you believe so much in what you do and you can't properly do it, it takes its toll.

“A solid resolution of both of these agreements is good for the nurses,” Reinert said. “It’s good for the institutions and it’s good for our community.”

Crowd members carrying signs and circling the sidewalk outside Aspirus St. Luke’s shouted, “What do we want? Safe staffing! When do we want it? Now!”

Following the pandemic, many nurses left, creating shortages that impact patient wait times and low staff morale.

“A lot of nurses suffer from PTSD,” said Jennifer Armbrust, a registered nurse at Essentia Health-St. Mary’s Medical Center. “When you believe so much in what you do and you can’t properly do it, it takes its toll. It burns you out, and it makes you want to quit. And so many nurses have quit the bedside because of it.”

For the first time, safe staffing ranked above pay in key negotiation topics for nurses across the state, according to an MNA media release.

Negotiations are now at a sticking point over the proposed staffing ratios and the absence of economic proposals from the union.

“Our hospitals are dangerously understaffed, and patients are suffering because executives are more concerned with profit margins than safety,” said Larissa Hubbartt, an RN in the intensive care unit at Aspirus St. Luke’s hospital and co-chair for MNA. “Discussions about wages aren’t enough; we need meaningful conversations about setting safer staffing ratios. The current ratios simply aren’t working.”

According to Hubbartt, these ratios often exceed the national standards of one nurse for four patients, at times reaching one nurse per 10 patients.

Megan Finegan is an oncology and hospice staff nurse at Aspirus St. Luke’s. Out of the 48 proposals brought forth by the union for negotiating, one is tentative, although unrelated to staffing, she said.

“Because the ratios have continued to go higher and higher, a lot of nurses are leaving the bedside to do other careers,” Finegan said. “I want to take care of my patients and hold their hands while they’re dying, while their families can’t get to their bedside.

“When I’m safely staffed,” she said, “I know I can do my patients’ hair and give them an actual bed bath and make sure they get to the bathroom in time before soiling themselves.”

The impact is moral injury, with many nurses crying in their cars before or after their shifts due to the inability to provide adequate care, Hubbartt noted.

“You go into nursing because you truly want to help people. When you can’t do that, it just drives a dagger into your heart,” she said. “We’re there for people when they’re at the absolute lowest times of their life and they need that support.”

Over the past decade of working as a nurse for Aspirus St. Luke’s, Andrea Rubesch said she’s noticed a significant deterioration in staffing conditions, which have led to increased patient loads and compromised care quality.

“When I started in 2015, I was taking care of three to four patients,” she said. "I had two nursing assistants, a HUC (health unit coordinator) and a charge nurse that didn’t have patients. So that’s 10 hands taking care of a patient on every single day.

“Ten years later, I don’t have any nursing assistants,” Rubesch said. “I don’t have a unit coordinator; I don’t have a charge nurse. It’s just me. It’s just my two hands, and I take care of six to eight patients at a time.”

In her experience, the limited time Rubesch can spend with patients means choosing between providing chemotherapy treatment safely and effectively to one patient, while not being able to care for the family of another patient who may have just died.

“It’s hard to live with the idea that you had to make those decisions day after day,” Rubesch said.

Cost-saving solutions that ensure quality care without compromising safety have been presented, according to the MNA release. Safer staffing ratios will reduce health care costs, save more patient lives, decrease workplace injuries and increase experienced nurse retention.

Hubbartt suggested Minnesota follow suit with states such as California that have worked staffing ratios into their legislation, as well as for contracts in Michigan and New York.

Aspirus St. Luke’s claimed it can’t support the MNA’s staffing ratio proposal because it doesn’t account for a nurse’s experience, patient needs, staffing levels or unexpected absences. The health system prefers a more flexible, holistic approach.

“Unfortunately, we’re still waiting on a key piece to move things forward,” said Aspirus St. Luke’s MN Region President Dr. Van Deelen. “Despite bargaining for six weeks, MNA leadership has yet to share their full economic proposal. Without it, we can’t move forward with negotiations and engage in the kind of meaningful, productive discussions we believe both sides want.”

Similarly, the union has yet to share its wage and benefit proposal or respond to Essentia’s full contract proposal, which was delivered during the first negotiating session April 11.

Of the potential 54 bargaining days offered by Essentia, the union declined 46 and agreed to eight.

“Among the days we initially proposed was today,” according to an email from Essentia. “The MNA said it wasn’t available. Yet, it found time to host informational pickets and news conferences around the state today.”

The final two sessions between Essentia and MNA are scheduled for June 12 and 25. In 2022, an agreement was secured after 26 sessions.

“Essentia reached out early and often to insist on dedicating time to developing local solutions that work for our patients and nurses,” Rhonda Kazik, chief nurse executive at Essentia, said in a media release.

Armbrust said she believes safe staffing ratios should be based on patient acuity rather than budget at Essentia.

“They keep pushing us to talk about the finances and make our financial proposal for increases and for benefits,” Armbrust said. “We don’t want to talk about money. It’s not about money for us. It’s about safe staffing.”

Essentia has reached tentative agreements on several issues that are part of the larger contract, but not on the union's safe staffing proposals.

According to Essentia, its staffing model is “effective and features the flexibility that sustainable, accessible health care delivery demands,” and should be determined by patient needs, not “rigid and arbitrary ratios.”

Additionally, Essentia filed a ULP with the National Labor Relations Board on Monday, and the union was served on Tuesday regarding "the union’s refusal to bargain in good faith."

The union then announced it would file an Unfair Labor Practice charge against Essentia for bad faith bargaining in regard to Essentia’s patient flow nurses joining an existing MNA contract.

Essentia denied the union's claim in its release that Essentia demanded the nurses be part of a different bargaining unit.

Essentia has not begun to negotiate with its East Market Advanced Practice Providers, who won union representation in July 2024 and were legally certified as members of the Minnesota Nurses Association by the Regional Labor Relations Board.

Essentia provided the following statement on the issue: “Because the NLRB is in the middle of reviewing the viability of this unit, we feel it’s premature to begin bargaining.”

This story was updated at 4:33 p.m. June 5 with a clarification on the union's economic proposal and with additional information about Essentia's filing with the NLRB against the MNA. Corrections were made to distinguish the regional labor relations board decision, as well as tentative agreements reached between the union and Essentia. The News Tribune regrets the errors.

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Friction builds between Gov. Walz, public sector unions on multiple fronts

Clay Masters / MPR News — Sun, 01 Jun 2025 21:56:54 GMT

ST. PAUL — Possible layoffs, a return-to-office directive and tense contract negotiations are straining Gov. Tim Walz’s relationship with public sector labor unions that represent thousands of state workers.

There has been a notable shift in tone given that Walz has delivered many wins to unions since first being elected governor in 2018. The DFLer signed several worker protection measures into law, like paid sick leave. He signed laws enhancing collective bargaining rights and wage theft protections.

His labor union support and own union background — he’s a former school teacher — was a fixture of his unsuccessful bid for vice president last year.

“It was you who built the middle class, and we know that when unions are strong, America’s strong,” was a Walz refrain during that run.

His relationship with public sector unions has fallen on tougher times. Union members lashed out at the governor during a virtual town hall last week, with some questioning if they should stand by Walz if he runs for another term in 2026.

Walz acknowledged the friction when asked about his standing with public sector unions recently.

“I think management and labor always has a healthy tension,” he told MPR News. “As a longtime labor union member, I hear where they’re coming from. So, I think it’s healthy. I won’t kid you, they’re probably not going to throw a picnic for me.”

As governor, Walz is the head of the executive branch of state government. Nearly 90% of those employees belong to a public sector union.

The two biggest are the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 5. Those are the two most vocal unions in voicing frustration with the Walz administration.

Back in March, a handful of mostly DFL lawmakers gathered outside the Capitol with the heads of those unions. They pushed back on the Walz administration’s call for state employees to return to the office for at least 50% of scheduled workdays starting in June.

“Our labor unions are in a position where they have to fight for something that they’ve already had and just got taken away,” said Rep. Luke Frederick, DFL-Mankato. “They should be working and fighting for better wages, better benefits. But now they’re just trying to hold the ground that they already have.”

Union leaders said they were not consulted before the return-to-office announcement. The policy has been slightly amended, and more talks have occurred about exceptions and accommodations since the initial plan was rolled out.

Remote work became common during the COVID-19 pandemic, and some state employees stayed in that format.

In May, unions were back at the Capitol and upset about a Walz deal with legislative leaders that included the closure of a prison in Stillwater.

“I find it hard to believe that this chip that was put on the table at the 11th hour wasn’t discussed thoroughly before it got put on the table,” said Bart Andersen with AFSCME Council 5.

Megan Dayton, president of MAPE, said their relationship with the governor is “not great.”

“I think our entire mission as a union, as a union community, is to have a seat at the table,” she said. “A call 10 to 15 minutes before a press conference about decisions that are going to impact our lives is not real partnership.”

Dayton says she expects better from a major figure in the DFL Party, where the “L” stands for labor.

At a lunchtime town hall earlier last week, MAPE members vented about difficult contract negotiations on top of it all. They batted around the possibility of job actions — up to a strike — over changes on the table, including higher employee health care costs.

“If he thinks that his Legislature and Minnesota Management and Budget’s mismanagement of our budget is going to be borne on the backs of state workers, I think he should be prepared to lose a few more friends,” Sean McIntyre said when asked by an attendee about the mood toward the governor.

Walz responded Thursday to the concern over health care cost shifts, saying nothing is final yet. He said the final contracts will depend in part on how the next budget turns out.

“I still continue to value this workforce. We continue to, historically, have provided some of the best contracts and the best benefits so that we can maintain that talent,” he said. “Those negotiations are separate from this and ongoing. They’re tied to it in that operating expenses are part of this budget. So first step here is for us to get this budget done, get it wrapped up.”

Things could get even rockier in coming weeks.

Layoff notices could go out as soon as this week to prepare for a possible shutdown if the budget isn’t finished by the end of June. Walz said the bulk of those would hit on June 9, although some employees would get them before then.

And even with a new budget, some agencies are bracing for layoffs that could stem from tighter finances or federal reductions.

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This story was originally published on MPRNews.org.

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Democrats push back, Republican praise Gov. Tim Walz’s call for more in-person work

Mary Murphy — Sat, 29 Mar 2025 20:01:15 GMT

ST. PAUL — Around 25 DFL lawmakers and state employee union members pushed back on Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz's remote work policy change during a press conference outside the Minnesota Capitol on Thursday, March 27.

Walz announced on Tuesday that state employees will be required to return to in-person work at least 50% of scheduled workdays come June 1.

Union leaders and lawmakers Thursday said they had no notice of the policy shift, and don’t agree with the “unilateral” change.

“Workers are angry,” Rep. Luke Frederick, DFL-Mankato, said at Thursday’s rally in opposition to the policy announced by Walz. “Workers are threatening to quit over this. In conversations with the agencies, there's questions about how even to implement this, about whether or not there's even office space.”

The amended policy provides an exemption for employees who live more than 75 miles away from their primary work location, Walz’s office said in a March 25 press release. In the same press release, Walz’s office estimated that roughly 60% of state employees already work in-person and did so throughout the entirety of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This approach balances the flexibility of telework with the workplace advantages of being in-office,” Walz said in the press release. “Having more state employees in the office means that collaboration can happen more quickly and state agencies can build strong organizational cultures more easily.”

Minnesota Association of Professional Employees (MAPE) and American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Council 5, were among the state employee unions at Thursday’s press conference opposing the order.. The two unions collectively represent roughly 40,000 — or two out of every three — state employees in Minnesota, according to MAPE President Megan Dayton.

“We were totally taken by surprise ...,” Dayton said Thursday. “There was no collaboration. There was no conversation ahead of time.”

Dayton said Thursday that she had not yet reached out to Walz for a meeting on the matter.

Dayton said on Thursday that state employees are prepared to strike if necessary, and that they will settle for “nothing less” than the order being fully rescinded. Dayton said that there are some “legal hurdles” the union would have to jump through before striking, and that a strike couldn’t happen until their contracts expire on July 1, a month after the policy change is set to take effect.

“This is going to have devastating impacts on our members,” Dayton said. “We had some people reaching out yesterday after they got the order to look for day care for their kids. It's a six-to-nine-month wait list to get their kids in day care.”

Walz said at an unrelated press conference on Wednesday that he "understands the frustration" and will continue to have conversations with state employees.

"At the end of the day, I work closely with them. I value the right to collectively bargain these types of decisions," Walz said.

Walz said the state loses most employees during the first six months of their jobs, and he said he's concerned a lack of workplace culture is contributing to that.

"Call it old school, whatever, but it is certainly the practice across the public and ... in private sector, the energy that comes with being back in the office, the things that we gain together," Walz said.

Republicans are standing in defense of the proposed shift back to in-person work. Speaker of the House Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, said Walz’s offer was “very generous.”

“It was the right thing, even though it was overdue,” Demuth said in a statement. “Most Minnesotans don’t have the option to work even 50% from home. He’s given more than enough lead time by requiring a June 1 start, so I think the governor’s offer was very generous.”

Senate Minority Leader Mark Johnson, R-East Grand Forks, said that in-person work drives a better product.

“I’m glad Gov. Walz is calling workers back to the office,” Johnson said in a statement. “Running the state requires collaboration, accountability and direct engagement — something that simply can’t be fully achieved through home offices and Zoom meetings. In-person work fosters stronger teamwork, more efficient problem-solving and better service for Minnesotans.”

The executive branch, which represents 89% of state government employees, has about 37,000 positions, according to a 2023 report by Minnesota Management and Budget (MMB). The Department of Human Services comprises 20% of the executive branch employees, with the Department of Transportation employing 14% and the Department of Corrections responsible for 11%, according to MMB’s report.

Republicans this session have identified empty state office buildings as a potential money-saver during a tight budget crafting year, and have pitched two bills, SF242/HF540, which would require a report on vacant state office spaces.

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Minnesota rideshare drivers push for ability to unionize

Mary Murphy — Tue, 25 Feb 2025 21:13:54 GMT

ST. PAUL — Minnesota Uber and Lyft drivers gathered at the Capitol on Tuesday, Feb. 25, to unveil a push backed by lawmakers for the right to unionize.

The Tuesday morning press conference outlined legislation that has not yet been introduced but would give drivers the right to organize a labor union and to engage in collective action to improve working conditions.

Greg Nammacher, president of SEIU Local 26, said his union was proud to be part of a driver-led coalition in the last two legislative sessions, that “those were important first steps,” but that drivers need more.

“It’s also clear that without a voice at the table, without a permanent voice where drivers can make sure that they are negotiating and figuring out how to make these jobs good jobs that can actually support their families … these problems are going to continue to come back to the Legislature, and the Legislature does not need to be the HR of huge multimillion-dollar global corporations like Uber and Lyft,” he said.

An SEIU spokesperson explained that since drivers are technically independent contractors and not employees, this right isn’t already afforded under state and federal law.

Last year, the Legislature passed a higher minimum wage that mandates Uber and Lyft drivers to be paid $1.28 a mile and $0.31 per minute. The wage increase was met with resistance from Uber and Lyft, which both threatened to leave the state of Minnesota before reaching an agreement.

Dawit Kassa, who was appointed by Gov. Tim Walz to a task force that helped inform last year’s legislation, shared the story of how he was deactivated from Uber in 2022, he believes from a rider’s review.

“Drivers are falsely accused and deactivated because of riders who didn’t like them … or sometimes for no reason at all,” Kassa said. “I’m one of the victims of this. I’m still deactivated and not allowed to work for Uber since 2022. This is our job, and people don’t understand that we can have it taken away at any time and not even have a clear understanding of why.”

Another driver at the press conference, Said Mohamed, said despite the new minimum wage, Uber and Lyft sometimes take weeks to pay their wages in full. They said this is an issue they would hope to address with the ability to unionize.

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Essentia East Market workers hope to unionize

Brielle Bredsten — Wed, 29 Nov 2023 23:08:25 GMT

DULUTH — Health care workers at Essentia East Market advanced practice providers are hoping to unionize with the Minnesota Nurses Association.

They filed for an election vote with the National Labor Relations Board on Monday, Nov. 27. However, an election date has yet to be set.

The Essentia East Market extends in Minnesota from Brainerd north to International Falls and Duluth and east to Ashland and Hayward in Wisconsin.

Hundreds of Essentia's nurse practitioners, physician associates, nurse midwives and clinical nurse specialists have been organizing for months, according to a news release from the MNA.

"We feel maintaining a direct relationship is the right choice for these Essentia providers. We are currently reviewing the petition and will act in good faith throughout the process," Essentia Health said in a statement. "In the coming weeks, we will follow the law and share information with our Essentia colleagues to help them make an informed, personal choice about unionization."

By attaining membership to the MNA, the group believes it will have more say in their practice and working conditions to address issues including better compensation, work-life balance and patient loads.

"Without APPs, patients’ access to our health care system would be significantly limited and the system’s ability to provide quality patient care would be severely impacted," Lynn Gevik said during a news conference Tuesday night at the Duluth Labor Temple.

In her 30-year career in health care, Lynn Gevik has worked as a nurse practitioner for Essentia Health in its psychiatry and hospitalist departments for over six years.

Gevik said APPs at Essentia lack a meaningful voice in the delivery of patient care, including having input on the number of patients seen each day, the amount of time spent with each patient, and how to best help patients navigate the health care system.

"I am a patient as well. When I visit my physician or APP, I feel an obligation to keep my visit short because I know they will likely have more patients than they can deliver the expected quality of care in a day," Gevik said.

According to the Journal of Internal Medicine, primary care providers would need to work almost 27 hours daily to provide all recommended preventive, chronic disease and acute care to their patients.

"Essentia Health values the important role that all of our providers play in delivering high-quality patient care. We are committed to fostering an excellent work environment based on our values, which include quality, respect, stewardship and teamwork," Essentia said in its statement.

While the health care industry faces challenges such as rising operating costs and workforce shortages, Essentia said it is committed to providing competitive pay and increases. Nurse practitioners and physician assistants in the East Market earn a full-time salary that ranges from $104,000-$179,000, depending on the specialty and experience, according to Essentia.

As salaried employees, Gevik claimed Essentia's APPs work many uncompensated hours to ensure quality care for their patients. Expectations for the number of patients seen in a day continue to increase, Gevik said, resulting in burnout and moral injury among providers.

"This year, Essentia Health opened a new state-of-the-art hospital that cost nearly $1 billion to construct. Yet, in its shadow there are APPs who have not had raises for years," Gevik said.

"Essentia Health may say that 90% of their APPs received a raise this year, but is the 1 cent-per-hour raise given to a highly experienced orthopedic nurse practitioner really a raise? Or, should a talented critical care nurse practitioner who worked tirelessly to care for our most vulnerable community members during the pandemic be going into their fourth year without a raise? Or, should psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioners be going into their third year without a raise? We think not!"

Essentia's turnover rate of APPs is 6.5%, compared to 11% nationally, reported SullivanCotter's 2022 Physician Compensation and Productivity Survey.

Essentia said it has doubled the number of APPs on its care teams over the last decade, in addition to offering support by encouraging their voices in patient care, investing in education and training opportunities, and advocating for expanding their scope of practice.

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Union workers at Hormel Foods plant in Austin to vote on 'final' contract offer

MPR News staff — Wed, 13 Sep 2023 19:51:39 GMT

The union representing about 1,700 meatpacking workers at the Hormel Foods plant in Austin, Minn., says they’ll vote this week on a contract proposal it’s calling a “final offer” from the company.

The United Food and Commercial Workers Local 663 bargaining committee at Hormel is recommending workers reject the offer.

“They refuse to give us good wages and secure pensions after record company profits,” the committee members said in a statement to coworkers, provided by the union. “We believe we can win more if we stick together.”

The union said its members “made huge sacrifices to keep our communities fed” during the height of the pandemic, “and should be compensated as the heroes we are.” UFCW Local 663 members held a march in Austin on Labor Day.

Voting on the contract offer is set to take place Wednesday and Thursday. The union said it still aims to reach an agreement with the company, after the previous contract expired on Sunday.

In a statement, Hormel Foods said it’s disappointed that a contract agreement hasn’t yet been reached, but “we remain optimistic.”

“Hormel Foods has had strong working relationships with the UFCW for decades, including in Austin. Our representatives will continue to negotiate in good faith,” the company said.

The union did not outline any next steps if the contract offer is voted down this week.

The Hormel plant in Austin was the site of a lengthy strike in 1985-86 that drew national attention.

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Bemidji chapter of Minnesota Nurses Association reaches tentative agreement with Sanford Health

Pioneer Staff Report — Fri, 10 Mar 2023 17:08:12 GMT

BEMIDJI — Nurses with the Minnesota Nurses Association at Sanford Bemidji Medical Center announced that they have reached a tentative agreement with Sanford Health on a new three-year contract.

As a result, nurses have called off the informational picket they had planned for Monday, March 13, and will not be filing unfair labor practices charges against Sanford Health, pending contract ratification by the union’s members, a release said.

The tentative agreement fought off concessions that had been sought by Sanford Health, and includes fair pay increases, better accrual of paid time off and stronger language to protect the union and nurses’ contract in case of a change of ownership as Sanford Health continues to pursue a merger with Fairview Health Services.

The Minnesota Nurses Association said in the release announcing the tentative agreement that the language of the agreement will help to retain nurses and protect patient care at the Sanford Bemidji Medical Center.

A ratification vote on the tentative agreement will be scheduled in the coming days. The union’s nurse negotiation team is recommending members vote yes to approve the new three-year contract.

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Minnesota hospitals drop labor charges against nurses

Laura Butterbrodt — Fri, 27 Jan 2023 22:26:02 GMT

DULUTH — When the Minnesota Nurses Association announced its three-day strike at 16 hospitals in September, the health care systems responded by filing unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board. Those charges were dropped in December, after the hospitals and nurses came to an agreement on new contracts.

According to a statement from Essentia Health, dropping these charges is standard practice when the two parties have come to an agreement. The Minnesota Nurses Association announced its members had voted to ratify the new contracts Dec. 14, a week after a tentative agreement was reached between hospitals and nurses.

"As part of the contract agreement reached in December, both parties agreed to drop any National Labor Relations Board charges related to bargaining," said Tony Matt, media relations specialist for Essentia Health. "This is a typical part of the negotiation process."

On Sept. 1, Essentia Health, St. Luke's, Children's Minnesota, Fairview Health, North Memorial Health, Methodist, and Allina Health systems each filed individual charges against MNA for not filing the appropriate 30-day notice with the Minnesota Bureau of Mediation Services. Because the MNA provided the required 10-day notice to hospitals, but not the 30-day notice to the state, the hospitals stated the strike was illegal.

Duluth-based Essentia filed an additional charge against MNA on Sept. 6, stating the MNA failed to include Essentia Health-Duluth in its list of locations given the 10-day strike notice. While the list did include Essentia Health–St. Mary's Medical Center, Miller Dwan nurses were still expected to show up for work during the Sept. 12-15 strike. Minnesota Nurses Association First Vice President Chris Rubesch, of Duluth, responded by saying there was no requirement to list specific building locations for the strike, calling the charge a "desperate move."

The September nurses' strikes went on as planned, with approximately 15,000 nurses in the Twin Cities and Twin Ports walking out over the three-day period. An additional strike was announced in December, but it was called off when the nurses and hospitals reached their tentative agreements Dec. 6.

On Dec. 9, the charges filed by the hospitals in September were withdrawn.

St. Luke's and the Minnesota Nurses Association did not provide comments regarding the dropped charges.

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U.S. Supreme Court considers narrowing federal protections for unions

John Kruzel / Reuters — Tue, 10 Jan 2023 19:33:45 GMT

WASHINGTON — U.S. Supreme Court justices on Tuesday wrestled with a labor dispute that could narrow federal protections for unions by making it easier for employers to sue over strikes that result in damage to company property.

The justices heard oral arguments in an appeal by a concrete business in Washington state called Glacier Northwest Inc of a lower court's ruling in favor of a local affiliate of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters in the company's lawsuit against the union arising from a 2017 strike. Glacier Northwest is a unit of Japan-based Taiheiyo Cement Corp.

Some of the conservative justices seemed inclined to bolster the ability of companies to take unions to state courts while liberal justices raised concerns about eroding organized labor's power to strike.

The Supreme Court, with its 6-3 conservative majority, has leaned toward curbing the power of labor unions in rulings in recent years. This case could deliver another setback to organized labor after the justices in 2021 struck down a California agricultural regulation aimed at helping unions organize workers.

The legal issue before the justices on Tuesday was whether companies can sue unions in state court over allegations of intentional property damage or if such claims are barred by a federal labor law called the National Labor Relations Act.

Liberal Justice Elena Kagan said that a broad ruling in favor of companies could undercut union decisions on when to strike, which often are made to pressure employers by causing economic harm.

"When we start focusing on intent, without more, it pulls in pretty much every strategic decision that a union makes as to when to conduct a work stoppage," Kagan said.

Conservative Chief Justice John Roberts said that there is a distinction between causing economic harm and intentional property destruction.

"The difference between the milk spoiling and killing the cow," Roberts said.

Glacier Northwest, which sells and delivers ready-mix concrete, sued Teamsters Local Union No. 174, representing the company's truck drivers, in state court accusing the union of intentional property destruction during the strike.

A group of drivers went on strike while their mixing trucks were filled with concrete. Although the drivers kept their mixing drums rotating to delay the concrete from hardening and damaging the vehicles, the company was forced to discard the unused product at a financial loss.

President Joe Biden's administration urged the justices to reverse the lower court's decision, allowing Glacier Northwest's lawsuit to proceed.

The Washington state Supreme Court in 2021 ruled that the company's claims were preempted by the National Labor Relations Act, saying the company's loss of concrete was incidental to a strike that could be considered arguably protected under federal labor law.

Glacier Northwest urged the U.S. Supreme Court to rule that federal preemption does not bar claims made under state law involving intentional destruction of an employer's property.

The union said the strike not only could be considered arguably protected under federal labor law but the resulting loss of concrete did not satisfy the high bar to override federal preemption. While the U.S. Supreme Court has found that labor unions can be sued in state court for violent or threatening conduct, the union argued, this narrow exception should not be expanded to permit property damage claims brought under state law.

In another important labor case, the court in 2018 ruled that non-members cannot be forced, as they are in certain states, to pay fees to unions representing public employees such as police and teachers that negotiate collective bargaining agreements with employers.

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Minnesota nurses vote in favor of new hospital contracts

Laura Butterbrodt — Wed, 14 Dec 2022 23:44:37 GMT

ST. PAUL — Members of the Minnesota Nurses Association have voted to ratify their new contracts with hospitals, the MNA announced Wednesday afternoon, Dec. 14. The nurses union reached tentative agreements with 15 hospitals last week.

The contracts will last for three years and cover 15,000 nurses in the Twin Cities and Twin Ports at Allina Health, Children's, Essentia Health, HealthPartners Methodist, M Health Fairview, North Memorial and St. Luke's hospitals. Each negotiating team has different contracts, but MNA President Mary Turner said most contracts have similar protections defined to varying degrees.

In a news conference Wednesday afternoon, MNA representatives described the contracts as "historic" due to language addressing staffing levels and wage increases of 17% over three years in the Twin Ports and 18% over three years in the Twin Cities. Chris Rubesch, first vice president of MNA and a nurse at Essentia Health in Duluth, said the 1% difference between the two regions reflects different economic markets.

"As we've all been saying for the last nine months, and will continue to say, the focus of this was on staffing language," Rubesch said. "We're very proud that this agreement adds new language giving us a say in the creating and review of staffing grids, adds additional liability protection for nurses who are working in conditions that can be judged to be unsafe in the nurses' clinical judgment, and it adds significant benefits that will help retain senior nurses who are going to be absolutely vital as we train the next generation of caregivers in Minnesota."

The MNA and hospitals have been negotiating for the new contracts since March. Nurses previously held several pickets, a three-day strike in September for unfair labor practices, and had planned another strike this month before the tentative agreements were reached and the strike notice was withdrawn.

"At many of our bargaining tables, it wasn't until that second strike vote that (hospitals) started to discuss staffing," Turner said. "Because of our tenacity, we won unprecedented language to address staffing levels."

The MNA said their next priority will be to pass the Keeping Nurses at the Bedside Act in state legislation. The act addresses short-staffing, nurse retention and recruitment, and support for healthcare workers. The Minnesota House of Representatives passed the act as part of the Health & Human Services omnibus bill in May.

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