Nursing support staff, clerical staff and environmental staff at Mayo Clinic Health System's Mankato, Minn., location filed a petition on May 9 asking the National Labor Relations Board to hold a vote on whether to remove American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees as their bargaining representative.
Employee Melody Morris, with help from National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, filed the petition earlier this month. A majority of her colleagues within the 200-person work unit represented by AFSCME Council 65 supported the petition, according to a May 12 news release from the foundation.
The foundation is a nonprofit with a mission "to eliminate coercive union power and compulsory unionism abuses through strategic litigation, public information and education programs." It also assisted nurses at Mayo Clinic Health System's Mankato location, who voted in July 2022 to remove the Minnesota Nurses Association as their bargaining representative.
The petition filed this month related to AFSCME Council 65 comes as Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic, which owns Mayo Clinic Health System, has doubled down on its stance against the Keeping Nurses at the Bedside Act, which would require hospitals to form hospital nurse staffing committees to set staffing levels. The state would evaluate each hospital's compliance with its own staffing plan.
AFSCME Council 65, in a news release shared with Becker's, said: "The timing of this makes it clear that this is a coordinated effort to silence anyone — Minnesota voters, Minnesota workers, Minnesota elected officials — that would raise concerns about safe staffing levels and fair wages for working people."
Mayo Clinic Health System told Becker's it is "aware of a petition filed by a staff member to the National Labor Relations Board to vote on whether representation by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees should continue. This is a staff-led effort, and we are grateful for the confidence these individuals have in Mayo Clinic Health System."