Blog

Starting the first full pay period after July 1, union members at St. Luke's Chequamegon Clinic in Ashland will be getting a 3% raise, instead of the originally scheduled 1% raise.

REGIONAL CLINICS UPDATE: Thank you to everyone who participated in today's sticker wearing action! It was a powerful demonstration of solidarity!
 
After months of discussion, we reached an agreement that the Clinical Assistant Apprentices at the Regional sites will all be accreted into our contracts.
 
We are expecting a full economic package proposal from the employer first thing tomorrow morning.
Bargaining for the Essentia Health Regional Clinics (Ashland, Hayward, Spooner, Hibbing and Ely) resumes Tuesday. Quality workers deserve quality pay! Wear your union sticker tomorrow to show your support for a fair contract. Click the link to learn how to respond to patients. Solidarity! https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rsonxe-6jFCZIZ9Gr8nZMfGTaDyNQSr3/view?usp=sharing

The union is building a communication and action team (CAT) for the Essentia Health Regional Clinics (Ashland, Hayward, Spooner, Hibbing and Ely) to keep you informed during bargaining. Click the link to meet the CAT member in your area. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rwX1K4_aoztzukub5TYzR4woi_UNLXuv/view?usp=sharing

RED BOOK UPDATE: The union is going to be holding an informational meeting for members represented by the Red Book contract. At the meeting we'll be discussing how the wage re-opener with Essentia is going. We'll be meeting on Thursday, July 7 at 5:30pm in Hall A of the basement of the Duluth Labor Temple.

The union and the company met on June 28 to negotiate new contracts for the Ashland, Hayward, Spooner, Hibbing and Ely Clinics.  Essentia Health has yet to move off of their proposal of only 1% raises for each year of the next contract. Today they added the statement, "Essentia does not recognize inflation." Talk to your Unit President to find out what YOU can do to show your solidarity and committment to show Essentia that we deserve a fair contract!

We had our second session of negotiations with Essentia Health over our year 3 wage re-opener this past Friday. We've had movement back and forth on our initial proposals, such as on call back pay, and we're waiting for the company's response on our wage proposal. We're hoping to have more to report after our next session, which is on July 6.

The union has a vacancy on our Executive Board for the position of Inner Guard. The Inner Guard position pays a monthly stipend of $75 a month. To get that stipend you have to attend the monthly Executive Board and membership meetings which take place on the 3rd Tuesday of every month (at 4pm and 5:30pm, respectively). The union puts in a time off request for you to be able to attend these meetings, and covers your lost wages.