Workers at Mayo Clinic Health System in Austin, Minn., have signed a petition seeking a vote on the removal of United Steelworkers Local 11-005 as their bargaining representative.
The petition for decertification was filed by Erin Krulish, a patient care specialist at the Mayo Clinic location in Austin, with the National Labor Relations Board with assistance from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, according to the NRTW. 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."
The NLRB website states that employees may seek a vote to remove a union if they believe support for a union has diminished, after collecting signatures from at least 30% of workers in a unit. A majority of workers in Ms. Krulish's work unit, which includes licensed practical nurses, medical assistants and patient care specialists, signed the petition, according to the NRTW.
The foundation said in a Dec. 12 news release that workers want to take away union bosses' "monopoly bargaining powers." Ms. Krulish and her co-workers voted in a deauthorization vote in 2022 to remove what the NRTW says are the union's "forced-dues powers," but they are now seeking a vote to remove the union from the workplace entirely.
An election date has not been set. However, if a majority of workers vote to remove United Steelworkers Local 11-005, the union will be removed from the workplace.
Mayo Clinic Health System in Austin shared a statement with Becker's saying it has learned that more than 50 employees have signed the petition for decertification.
"This is a staff-led effort," the statement said. "We are grateful for the confidence the petitioners have in Mayo Clinic Health System."
USW District 11 Director Cathy Drummond shared the following statement with Becker's: "The anti-union effort at Mayo’s Austin Clinic is yet another example of an outside organization inserting itself in an attempt to strip workers of their power. This group has a clear agenda: to turn workers against each other and ultimately deprive them of their ability to bargain strong contracts. Our union remains committed to empowering all workers in their fight for fair wages and safe working conditions."