Update + July 30 Informational Picket

Some of you will ask: if mediation is coming, why picket first? Here's the answer. A mediator has no authority to impose terms on anyone. What moves negotiations is both sides arriving ready to settle — and Essentia understanding that our members are united behind our proposals. We picket before mediation so that message arrives ahead of us.

Where wages stand.

We opened at 7% per year. We are now at 4.5% per year, with full retroactivity to July 1 — a reduction of 2.5 points in every year of the agreement.

Essentia's current across-the-board offer is 2% per year.

You may see Essentia describe their offer as 3.21% / 3.19% / 3.17%. Those figures combine their 2% across-the-board increase with the cost of the grid steps you already earn. Our proposal includes those same steps. Comparing across-the-board to across-the-board — the part that raises everyone's base — the figures are 4.5% versus 2%, a 2.5-point difference in each year.

We also declined Essentia's "Option 2" alternative wage structure. Under that structure, members at the top of the grid would receive their increases as one-time taxed payments rather than permanent base pay, and step increases would end for the roughly three-quarters of our members still progressing through the grid.

At the last minute of our last session, Essentia raised an informal proposal of 2% / 2.5% / 3% in a sidebar discussion. It included no change to the other outstanding items. We did not accept it, and we explained why: a higher figure in the third year does not offset reductions to earned time off that begin immediately.

What remains open on Essentia's side.

Vacation: reducing maximum accrual from 2.5x to 1.5x annual accrual.

PTO and reserve bank: capping the PTO bank at 1.25x, and reducing the reserve bank from 720 hours to 480. Essentia has offered to delay the effective date to January 2027 so members can use down balances first.

Clinic shift bonus: retaining the restriction that excludes the unscheduled shift bonus from the clinic setting.

Incentives: retaining a unilateral right to eliminate or reduce retention incentives at any time.

Bereavement leave: moving a guaranteed contract benefit into Essentia policy, "as may be amended from time to time." A benefit held in policy rather than in the contract can be changed without bargaining with us.

Workplace violence.

Health care workers are four to five times more likely to be injured by violence on the job than workers in almost any other industry. We proposed three protections: the right to refuse a genuinely unsafe assignment, firm deadlines to investigate incidents, and a paid seat where safety decisions are made. We extended our proposed investigation timeline in response to Essentia's concerns.

Essentia's proposal is a letter committing to send a communication within 90 days of ratification identifying existing resources and how to join site committees. Essentia has also indicated that committee members should be paid for meeting time — that is movement, and we acknowledge it. Our position is that a communication about existing programs is not the same as enforceable contract language, and we will continue pressing for protections our members can actually enforce.

What we have moved on.

At our sessions on June 27–29 and before, we withdrew a substantial number of our own proposals to narrow the table to our members' highest priorities. We reduced our wage proposal. We scaled back our shift differential proposal to the first year of the agreement. We adjusted timelines in response to Essentia's concerns. We have bargained in good faith at every session, and we will continue to do so.

Cross-facility floating.

After we advised Essentia that a mandatory cross-facility floating article would not be ratified, they moved the subject to a Letter of Understanding. That was constructive, and we said so.

Essentia has consistently described this program as voluntary, and we take them at their word about their present intent. Our concern is what the language permits over time. A program that is voluntary in practice today can become an expectation tomorrow if nothing in the contract requires otherwise — and intentions do not survive changes in management. That is why we countered to put the protections in writing: bargaining unit members offered available hours first, no member displaced or sent home early while an outside worker remains, a guaranteed full shift, and a joint review after one year to confirm the program is working as both parties intend.

If the program is genuinely voluntary and limited, writing that into the agreement costs Essentia nothing and protects both parties from misunderstanding later.

One more item. Appendix G — the Letter of Understanding limiting assigned overtime and extra shifts to 32 hours per contract year, with a meet-and-confer trigger at 28 hours — sunsets with the expired agreement by its own terms. Unless it is renewed, those limits and the tracking report no longer apply. We have proposed renewing it.

INFORMATIONAL PICKET

Thursday, July 30 · 1:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.

In front of St. Mary's Medical Center

This is an informational picket. It is not a strike.

No one walks off the job.

No shift goes uncovered.

No patient's care is affected.

Everyone at the line must be off the clock. Join us if you are:

Not scheduled to work that day, or off shift;

On approved time off; or

Clocked out for an unpaid meal period or break.

Do not leave a work assignment, and do not participate while on paid time. If you are clocked out for a meal or break, keep track of your time and clock back in on schedule. Our strength here depends on doing this the right way — Essentia should have nothing to point to but our numbers.

We picket on public sidewalks, without obstructing any entrance, exit, or driveway. We are there for one purpose: so our neighbors hear directly from the people who staff this hospital about what is at stake in these negotiations.

Come in your scrubs if you're off shift. Bring your family. Bring a coworker who hasn't been following this closely.

We are 850+ members across dozens of classifications — laboratory, imaging, therapy, surgical services, and more. Our strength has always been that we act together.

We have moved substantially, and we are prepared to keep working toward an agreement. We enter mediation on August 11 committed to reaching a fair contract. What we need between now and then is every member standing together.