Miller Hill Surgery Center Bargaining

Updates

Essentia Health recognizes the MNA as the union representing nurses at the Miller Hill Surgery Center. Essentia Health is committed to working through the usual process of bargaining in good faith to come to a mutually agreeable contract. Bargaining on a new first contract began on Nov. 11, 2024.

Upcoming negotiations scheduled

  • July 25, 2025
  • July 31, 2025

June 18 Update

Bargaining update

On May 30, 2024, nurses at Essentia Health Surgery Center-Miller Hill voted to be represented by the MNA for purposes of collective bargaining. Approximately five months later, the MNA requested to meet with Essentia to bargain a first contract. Essentia agreed and the parties met for the first time on Nov. 11, 2024.

Since then, Essentia has met with the MNA on eight additional days:

    • Jan. 15, 2025
    • Feb. 5, 2025
    • March 18-19, 2025
    • April 25, 2025
    • April 29, 2025
    • May 9, 2025
    • June 3, 2025

Over those days, we have reached seven tentative agreements over a variety of topics:

    1. Separability and Savings
    2. Voluntary Termination
    3. Preamble
    4. Breakage and Loss
    5. Identification
    6. Employer Committees
    7. Probationary Period

We continue bargaining over 30-plus other topics including wages and benefits. In the meantime, we continue to maintain the status quo. With negotiations ongoing, we also offered to provide nurses at the ambulatory surgery center annual wage increases averaging 3.5% this past April, an offer which was rejected by the MNA.

As we shared during the election campaign when nurses were considering representation by the MNA, first contracts in health care take an average of 18 months to complete from the beginning of negotiations. We are now approximately seven months into negotiations. We will continue negotiating with the MNA in good faith as we tackle the outstanding issues.

We had June 25 scheduled for our next session; however, the MNA requested to use that date to continue negotiations with our acute care nurses in the Twin Ports. We have asked the MNA to provide days that it is available to continue negotiations.

We are grateful for our nurses’ dedication to providing high-quality care to our community.