More than 500 SEIU Healthcare Minnesota members employed by Minneapolis-based Allina Health held an informational picket March 25 outside of Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis to highlight the need for safer staffing levels and other health and safety measures.
Union members claim that Allina Health has made drastic staffing cuts in recent years, which have led to more than one thousand staffing emergencies. Workers and supporters, including members of the Minnesota Nurses Association at Allina hospitals, also claim Allina executives have demanded that they be able to subcontract hospital jobs. Dawn Akkaya, who has worked at Abbott Northwestern Hospital for 16 years as a nursing assistant and patient assistant coordinator, said in a statement she believes there will be higher turnover, less training and lower standards if executives subcontract jobs like dietary and environmental services to the lowest bidder.
In a statement released by Allina, a system representative said Allina is disappointed that the union "seems more interested in garnering publicity through staged public events than bargaining in good faith."
"The union is misleading its members by claiming we plan to eliminate their jobs and gut their education fund, when the truth is that we have no plans to do so. In fact, we offered to increase the tuition reimbursement amount by $500," the statement reads. "In addition, the union settled in February with other Twin Cities hospitals for significantly lower wages than what Allina Health pays now."
Allina urged the union to focus on working with the system to reach a contract that is fair to employees, Allina Health and the patients and communities it serves.More than 3,000 Allina hospital workers, including nursing assistants, environmental services staff, cooks and dietary staff, licensed practical nurses, and X-ray, surgical and sterile processing technicians, are working without a new contract after their last agreement expired March 1.
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