Duluth Clinic 3rd Street Bargaining

Updates

Aug. 22 Update

Tentative agreement reached

We are pleased to announce that Essentia Health and the Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) have reached tentative agreements on contracts covering nurses at Essentia Health-Duluth Clinic 1st, 2nd and 3rd Street Buildings and Essentia Health St. Mary’s-Superior Clinic.

The tentative agreements, which will last through March 31, 2027, have the full recommendation of the MNA and union bargaining committees. Voting is expected to take place on August 28.

The tentative agreements reflect our commitment to our colleagues while ensuring the sustainability of rural health care for the patients and communities we serve.

 

Aug. 6 Update

Essentia Health and the Minnesota Nurses Association met for long days on Aug. 4 and Aug. 5 in an attempt to reach final agreements on first contracts for Duluth Clinic 1st Street, 2nd Street and 3rd Street nurses, along with Superior Clinic nurses. The parties engaged in meaningful discussions over the course of the two days with the parties exchanging many proposals and counterproposals to advance the negotiations. Though we only reached two tentative agreements, one over parking and the other over call language, the exchange of proposals and discussions about those proposals moved negotiations forward.

Among other open issues, wages still require additional discussion. More time is needed to properly evaluate the cost impact of the MNA’s latest wage proposal, so Essentia can provide a meaningful response.

We have agreed to additional bargaining dates on Aug. 20 and 21, and we look forward to resuming talks at that time. Both parties are fully committed to bargaining in good faith to achieve agreements as quickly as possible.

 

July 29 Update

First contract bargaining progress

Essentia Health and the Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) met Monday to continue negotiating first contracts for nurses at our Duluth Clinic 1st, 2nd and 3rd Street Buildings and Superior Clinic. This was our first joint meeting with all clinic bargaining teams.

The session was facilitated by a mediator and ran from 9:30 a.m. to after 5 p.m. Essentia addressed all proposals that were presented by the MNA in our previous meeting, and the MNA responded to all open issues. Following extensive discussions and numerous counter proposals, we reached tentative agreements on:

    1. Management rights
    2. No strike/no lockout
    3. Union security
    4. Confirmation of employment
    5. Hours and scheduling

The day was marked by professionalism and productivity. Several topics remain open for further discussion. Our next meeting is scheduled for August 4-5.

July 24 Update

First contract bargaining progress 

Essentia Health and the Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) held a productive bargaining session yesterday, facilitated by a mediator.

The teams engaged in good discussions and exchanged several proposals and counter proposals on topics such as: Management Rights, Confirmation of Employment, No Strikes, Union Security, and Hours and Scheduling.

We are pleased with the constructive discussions and anticipate further progress on July 28 as we continue to work toward a first contract.

Update on MNA strike

The Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) has announced it is withdrawing its strike notice involving nurses who care for patients at our downtown Duluth clinics, Superior Clinic and Miller Hill Surgery Center, along with nurses and staff at Solvay Hospice House.

We are pleased to welcome back all our nurses and staff returning to resume care for their patients and communities. Essentia leaders will be in touch with nurses and staff to safely coordinate the process of returning to work.

The withdrawal of the strike notice is a result of an agreement brokered by a federal mediator who is assisting us with bargaining. First contracts take an average of 18 months to negotiate in health care. We have been bargaining first contracts for the nurses and staff who were out on strike for a year or less, depending on the group.

We have been meeting with the MNA throughout July and still have several scheduled negotiation sessions before the end of the month. We also now have dates scheduled for August. We look forward to reaching a first contract at the 3rd Street Clinic in Duluth.

July 10 Update

Bargaining update

On July 9, Essentia Health met with the Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) to continue bargaining a first contract for Duluth Clinic 3rd Street and Superior Clinic ambulatory nurses. Essentia and the MNA exchanged package proposals in the afternoon, and Essentia is now taking the time needed to consider the MNA’s latest package proposal.

Even though the July 9 session was specifically scheduled to bargain the Duluth Clinic 3rd Street and Superior Clinic contracts, the MNA diverted discussions to issues unrelated to negotiations yesterday, including inviting other bargaining units to the session and asking Essentia to commit to more dates in July. Though this distracted from making progress on 3rd Street and Superior Clinic negotiations, Essentia listened and responded to questions from the MNA and the committee members from the several other bargaining units.

We re-explained the differences between first contract negotiations and existing contract negotiations. We also reminded the MNA that the urgency of reaching agreements and ending the strike with these new units was created by them and that they can remove that urgency anytime to focus on negotiations. We emphasized the importance of taking time to reach an agreement that both parties support, and that we can work toward this during the several bargaining sessions already scheduled for July. We also offered to look at additional dates in August.

A note to our colleagues negotiating first contracts: We have previously explained to the MNA why separate negotiations are crucial, and we want to ensure our colleagues negotiating first contracts understand our perspective as well.

    1. Diverse interests and priorities: Each group has a separate community of interest, unique job duties, facilities and priorities. While there are certainly similarities between some of the units, combining all of them in negotiations could lead to overlooking specific needs. If the MNA thought the nurses and staff at the several facilities had the same community of interest, they could have sought to represent all of them together when they were seeking to organize the separate units.
    2. Coordination complexities: First contract groups are at different stages in negotiations. Aligning them into a single negotiation process would complicate contract management and progress.
    3. Fairness and justice: Rushing this process would not be fair to those most affected by the decisions made at the bargaining table, including our patients, other Essentia colleagues and the nurses and staff at each of the separate facilities.

Negotiation timeline: First contracts in health care typically take 18 months to negotiate. Currently, only two of the six groups have reached the one-year mark and others have only been bargaining for less than six months. The last first contract Essentia negotiated with MNA in Moose Lake took over two years to complete.

Upcoming bargaining dates: We have scheduled additional bargaining sessions for various first contract groups on July 17, 18, 23, 25, 30 and 31. Our teams are open to additional dates in August and we are reviewing calendars now. We are committed to meeting several times this month and again throughout August. The MNA is aware of this.

Focus on patient care: We are prioritizing patient care. We invite the MNA to do the same by focusing on reaching agreements at the table, rather than striking and attempting to negotiate all contracts simultaneously.

Bargaining units only get one first contract – and we need the time to do this right. We thank our colleagues bargaining first contracts for considering this perspective as we work toward reaching fair and equitable agreements.

 

June 17 Update

Bargaining update

On July 9, 2024, nurses at the 3rd Street Clinic voted to be represented by the MNA for purposes of collective bargaining. Approximately seven and a half 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 February 26, 2025.

Since then, Essentia has met with the MNA on four additional days in 2025: Apr. 8, Apr. 14, May 7 and May 27.

Over those days, we have reached 21 tentative agreements over a variety of topics:

    1. Labor Agreement
    2. Separability and Savings
    3. Breakage and Loss
    4. Voluntary Resignation
    5. Labor Management Committee
    6. Employer Committees
    7. Non-Discrimination
    8. Pandemic/Endemic/Disaster Planning and Preparation
    9. Identification
    10. Uniforms
    11. Personnel File
    12. Probationary Period
    13. Health and Safety
    14. Drug and Alcohol Testing
    15. Grievance Procedure
    16. Discipline and Discharge
    17. Union Participation
    18. Precepting and Orientation
    19. Posting of Positions
    20. Seniority
    21. Dual Licensure

We continue bargaining over 20-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 3rd Street Clinic with 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 just under four months into negotiations. We will continue negotiating with the MNA in good faith as we tackle the outstanding issues.

We had June 17 scheduled for our next session; however, the MNA requested to use that date to continue negotiations with our Twin Ports acute care nurses. We have asked the MNA to provide additional days that the MNA is available to continue negotiations.

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

 

Essentia Health recognizes the MNA as the union representing clinic nurses at Essentia Health Duluth Clinic 3rd Street. 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 Feb. 26, 2025.