Albert Lea hospital workers strike Mayo Clinic

Hospital workers at Mayo Clinic Albert Lea walked off the job on a one-day Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) strike Tuesday morning at 6am. Workers charge Mayo with refusing to compromise and using contract bargaining to eliminate holiday and overtime pay, cut benefits and take away their rights.
A large picket in front of the hospital drew supporters from other unions and the community as well as elected officials and candidates for Minnesota governor. The strike by members of SEIU Healthcare Minnesota is the first in the history of Mayo Clinic. Several workers said they hoped the action would help get their side of the story out to Albert Lea community.
“Maintenance hasn’t had a contract for over two years,” said Charlotte Nelson Schocker, a materials management worker at the clinic, “and we haven’t had a contract for over a year. They want to take health insurance away from the part-time workers here, and that’s a lot of people.”
Schocker is part of a group of workers that includes certified nursing assistants (CNAs), housekeepers, sterile processors, utilities and other workers. “I’ve worked for this hospital for 28 years and I just feel that I’ve never been treated as badly as I am right now. It makes me sad that they’re more concerned about the money than the people.”
Mayo revenue topped $5 billion last year and Mayo CEO Dr. Noseworthy received an 11% pay increase which put his compensation at $2.8 million per year.
“I don’t know what their reasoning is,” Schocker continued. “We think, you know, it’s greed. They just want more money for themselves.”
Mayo has already been under fire in Albert Lea for cost-saving plans to move many Mayo Clinic services to Austin, Minnesota.
“The town council is very right to worry about what this will do to the community,” said Mary Turner, president of the Minnesota Nurses Association. Turner and others from her union had come to support Mayo workers on the picket line.
“You can go all over Minnesota and all over the nation and find community after community that has suffered and died because their health care access was taken away,” Turner continued. “These are people and people’s lives.”
“Mayo sets the standard for jobs and the decisions they make about employment have a direct and immediate impact on this community,” said Jeanine Anderson, who worked as a manager at Mayo for 37 years before recently retiring. “We are standing with the workers because our community needs to have a voice or we will lose out even more.”
“This has just been a long battle,” said striking Mayo utility worker Justin Yost. Yost said that during negotiations Mayo has insisted on being able to sub-contract out many of the permanent jobs at the Clinic. “In Albert Lea this is the biggest employer in town, obviously, and it would be really bad for the community to have these sub-contracted jobs with less pay and benefits. It would be a hit.”
After union members voted to authorize a strike back in November, Mayo threatened employees with a seven-day lockout if they followed through. Workers would be out of a job through Christmas.
“They said if we strike today that they’d lock us out through the 26th,” said Yost, “so we’re going to try to go back to work tomorrow morning anyway. We only voted for a one-day strike and we’re going to try to go back.”
Utilities department worker Perry Jenson summarized the strike action. “I hope this strike makes them realize all we want is for them to sit down and bargain with us for what is fair for everyone.”
SEIU strike at Mayo Albert Lea Hospital set for December 19th

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