At Monday’s city council meeting Essentia Health Advanced practice providers looked for support from the Duluth City Council in their efforts to create a union.

The healthcare providers filed their petition to unionized back on November 27th.

But he group has had a difficult time trying to unionize. Advanced practiced registered nurse Sara McCumber says, “Since we filed to form a union with MNA, Essentia’s response has not been well facilitated.”

McCumber goes on to say, “They’ve tried to censor some of our union activity, [and] they’ve hired lawyers to fight the petition with the NLRB’s.”

In a response to Monday’s city council meeting appearance. Essentia Health said the following:

At Essentia Health, advanced practice providers (APPs) play an integral role in delivering expert and compassionate care to the patients we’re privileged to serve. We appreciate their contributions and are committed to fostering an excellent work environment that allows them to do more of what they love — care for patients — while feeling respected and empowered.

Last month, the Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) filed a petition for an election with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) seeking to become the collective bargaining representative for APPs in Essentia’s East Market. We are carefully following the petition process determined by the NLRB. That includes sharing our questions about the union’s petition because the MNA is attempting to combine employees in a way that is inconsistent with current NLRB law. The NLRB has preliminarily agreed with Essentia’s understanding of the law and given the MNA until Dec. 22 to file a brief defending their petition.

We believe that maintaining a direct relationship with these providers will allow us to more efficiently work together toward our mutual goals. We will continue to follow labor law and share information with our colleagues to help them make an informed, personal choice about unionization.

Essentia’s commitment to our APPs is reflected by:

• Competitive compensation: Over the past three years, APPs have received average increases totaling 15.4%. They have a full-time salary that ranges from $104,000 to $179,000.
• Robust hiring: Over the past 10 years, we have nearly doubled our advanced practice registered nurse and physician assistant workforce.
• Minimal turnover: Essentia’s current turnover rate of 6.5% is significantly lower than the national average of 11%.