Blog

Community Action: St. Luke's ~ Your Workers Deserve Better!

The tech workers at St. Luke's Hospital in Duluth are currently engaged in some tough contract negotiations. So far St. Luke's has refused to offer the kind of compensation and safe staffing levels that these workers deserve. After all of the sacrifices that healthcare workers have made these past couple of years, it's time we demand that employers start caring for the caregivers!

Sept. 6 Red Book Update

The Red Book negotiating committee has put together a video update on how talks are going with Essentia, as well as a summary of what our planned next steps are.  You can view the video update on our facebook page, or via this link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UZ4-9BMuNzbZY65MTxY6Rn_MIsIRvWuc/view?usp=drive_link

Phone St. Luke's CEO!

Tuesday, Sept. 5, we’re asking everyone to call St. Luke’s CEO Eric Lohn and tell him that SLH Tech workers deserve a fair contract with decent wages and safe staffing levels! Dial (218) 249-5475. Spread the word!

Aug. 25 Red Book Update

The union's Red Book negotiating committee met with the employer this Wednesday and Thursday. Unfortunately no progress was made. We are still pushing back and going round and round on the employers proposal for "flexible scheduling".

St. Luke's Solidarity Action for Aug. 28 & 29

To build up support for our Negotiating Committee, we are asking all of our members and allies at St. Luke's hospital to wear Steelworker union stickers on Aug. 28 and 29. They are being distributed by our Negotiating Committee. If you can't get your hands on a sticker, you can also pick them up at our office in Room 206 of the Duluth Labor Temple.

Green Book Wage Re-Opener Results

Our Green Book contract at Essentia Health (which covers job titles ranging from Clinical Assistants to Environmental Services) has wrapped up our Year 3 wage re-opener. It was a very tough and frustrating fight. And in a wage re-opener, unlike full contract negotiations, a strike isn't an option, which limits our leverage. All that being said, what our team was able to get is that going forward all job titles in the Green Book will now have a starting wage of at least $15/hr.

New President, Executive Board Vacancies

Our local union president, Tuan Vu, has announced that he will be resigning to take a position with another organization. Per our union's constitution, our Vice President, Lindajean Thompson, will automatically be moving into the role of President. The change over will take place at the beginning of September. Congrats to both Tuan and Lindajean on their new roles!

This means that our Executive Board will be left with two vacancies - Vice President and Unit Chair for the Red Book.

Aug. 16 St. Luke's Update

ST. LUKE'S UPDATE: Our negotiating committee met with St. Luke's yesterday, and we're scheduled to meet with them again on the 29th. That same evening [Tuesday, Aug. 29] at 5:30pm we are going to be holding an in person negotiations update for all of our members at the St. Luke's Hospital. The meeting will start at 5:30pm and will be in Hall A of the Duluth Labor Temple. You can park on any side of the building. The easiest way to get to Hall A is through the door on the side of the building that faces Lake Superior.