Virginia Bargaining

Essentia Health is conducting regular bargaining with the Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA), the union representing more than 100 nurses at Essentia Health–Virginia. Essentia Health is committed to working through the usual process of bargaining in good faith to come to a mutually beneficial agreement.

Essentia Health and the Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) met Monday, Aug. 25, and Thursday, Aug. 28, to continue contract negotiations. These talks represented the fourth and fifth bargaining sessions, and they resulted in very positive discussions and good progress toward reaching a new agreement. So far, we have achieved 14 tentative agreements on various items, and we continue to work together on the remaining open issues.

While the last contract expired July 31, we continue to abide by those terms while we work through items at the bargaining table. The MNA has not yet provided a wage proposal. Several important topics remain key areas of discussion including:

• • Wages
  • Working voluntarily at other Essentia facilities (cross-facility floating)
  • On-call assignments within the OB department
  • Quick-change pay
  • Splitting Critical Care into separate departments

We have additional bargaining sessions scheduled for Sept. 24 and 29. We are hopeful that a tentative agreement will be reached in these next sessions, and both parties are committed to bargaining in good faith toward this goal.

Aug. 14 Update

Elevating the voice of our nurses

We recognize the critical role nurses play in championing ideas on ways we can enhance the care we provide for our patients and communities. We value our nurses’ insights and perspectives, and our practices show this.

Learn how Essentia elevates the voice of our nurses.

• Nurse Councils and Professional Governance: Our councils enable nurses to engage in shared decision-making through our professional governance structure. This allows nurses to influence practice changes, enhance care quality and safety, and improve patient outcomes through the promotion and use of evidence-based practices.
• We also have many other formal and informal ways we listen and work together to drive change within our teams, organization and the nursing practice. Some examples include our regular employee pulse surveys, leader rounding and one-on-one conversations.

We’re excited to continue our journey toward American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) Pathway to Excellence designation at Essentia Health-Virginia. This journey focuses on raising the nursing voice and encourages collaboration to drive changes in the organization, leading to better patient outcomes.

We hope you take a moment to look at the fact sheet to the right to learn more about this topic.

 

Aug. 1 Update

Update on third negotiation session

Essentia Health and the Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) completed their third negotiation session on July 30. The parties met for less than two hours over the course of two meetings throughout the day. Together, Essentia and the MNA added two additional bargaining dates. The four scheduled negotiation dates that have been agreed to by the MNA are Aug. 25, Aug. 28, Sept. 24 and Sept. 29.

Essentia and the MNA met for a short 45-minute session in the morning and again for nearly an hour in the afternoon.

During the morning session, Essentia responded to each MNA proposal and counterproposal, and offered several proposal revisions. While the MNA asked questions and shared concerns over Essentia’s proposals and counter proposals, they did not offer any counterproposals of their own. Essentia and the MNA did reach a tentative agreement on casual nurse requirements which was a combination of initial proposals from both parties.

Essentia and the MNA met again for an hour during the late afternoon. The MNA rejected Essentia’s counters from the morning meeting. We asked the MNA bargaining team members to share specific concerns for each proposal, which led to some additional insight.

A focal point of discussion revolved around Essentia’s interest in having the ability to assign qualified OB nursing colleagues who are being paid on-call wages to assist in other hospital areas when they are not needed in the OB unit. We presented three additional counter proposals based on the verbal suggestions from the MNA in the morning session, however did not receive any counter proposals to move negotiations forward. Essentia is also awaiting a wage proposal.

With the contract’s expiration on July 31, Essentia offered an opportunity to extend the contract through Sept. 30 to help both parties focus on reaching an agreement. We learned late Thursday that the MNA is not interested in a contract extension. The MNA offered no reason for rejecting our extension offer. Our colleagues and our patients continue to be our priority, and we look forward to working toward an agreement at future bargaining sessions Aug. 25, Aug. 28, Sept. 24 and Sept. 29.

The importance of responsive staffing

We wish to take a moment to highlight how we work together to best meet patients’ needs through our staffing practices in our Virginia hospital. We strive to provide timely access to care, relying on thoughtful planning and continuous evaluation of patient needs.

• • It enhances our patients’ experience, so they feel safe and cared for.
  • It impacts team satisfaction; a balanced workload allows team members to perform meaningful work without feeling overwhelmed or underutilized.
  • Ensuring we have the right staff, in the right place, at the right time enhances the quality of the care we provide, ensuring patient needs are met.
  • Lastly, responsive staffing allows us to practice good stewardship, which aligns with our Essentia Health values, and helps us put our people resources where they are needed most.

Doing this complex work successfully requires excellent communication, trust and respect among team members. To learn more about the importance of responsive staffing, please review this fact sheet. Thank you for your commitment to our patients and one another.

July 17 Update

Supporting our communities

Essentia Health nurses care about the health and well-being of our patients, our colleagues and our communities. Our mission to make a healthy difference in people’s lives extends beyond the walls of our facilities through the support of housing, food access, youth development and more.

As a nonprofit health care organization, Essentia Health is committed to enhancing the health of our communities, as well as investing in our colleagues and our care. Please check out this community benefit fact sheet. You can also learn more by reading Essentia’s full Community Benefit Report and the Minnesota Hospital Association Community Impact Report.
By focusing on the support of healthy behaviors and the social determinants of health, we can help to improve our patients’ quality of life. We appreciate all our nurses do to support our mission in this way.

July 10 Update

First negotiation session

• • July 24 
  • July 30 

July 3 Update

We are always looking for ways to enhance the care we provide our patients. Over the last year, we have negotiated language in some of our collective bargaining agreements that supports a model of care called “cross-facility floating.” This concept has benefits for both our patients and our colleagues.

This language allows colleagues to work at Essentia facilities not covered by their collective bargaining agreement when unique circumstances arise, such as unexpected illness or an emergency that affects staffing needs. Read more about that here.

In the nine bargaining units that have approved cross-facility language, the decision to float to another location outside their collective bargaining agreement is completely voluntary. Colleagues decide whether to pick up a shift, or shifts, at another hospital. In addition, staff would only float to a role they are trained and qualified for, as the goal of this model is to provide the highest level of quality care.

If the census at your facility is low or you want an extra shift, you might have the opportunity to work at another facility that needs help. This benefits you, along with the patients and colleagues at the other site. In the same way, if the census at your facility is high or there is a staffing emergency, colleagues from other locations could have the opportunity to support you and your patients.

June 26 Update

At Essentia Health, we take the safety of our colleagues, patients and visitors very seriously. Our organization has developed a robust Workplace Violence Prevention Program to support the safety of our nurses and all our colleagues.

From an underway ED remodel and expansion to 24/7 Security coverage, we are committed to supporting a safe work environment. It’s important to emphasize that acts of physical or verbal abuse are not tolerated. Thank you for reporting incidents, so we can continue to improve. Please click here or the image to the right for more information about workplace violence prevention. 

Together, we can make Essentia Health-Virginia the best place to provide and receive care. Please reach out to us to discuss any questions or concerns you may have about workplace safety.

June 19 Update

At Essentia Health, we strive to ensure our nurses enjoy a supportive work environment and are well compensated for their contributions to our patients and communities. Our success in recruiting and retaining nurses reflects this commitment to providing rewarding jobs that make a healthy difference in people’s lives. 

Here are some statistics that help to illustrate the opportunities for Virginia acute care nurses at Essentia. This fact sheet has more information. 

• • Acute care RNs in Virginia with a two-year degree and working a .9 FTE can start their careers earning about $78,100.
  • Most nurses in this bargaining unit – up to 76% – work four days/week or less, with benefits starting at 24 hours per week. 
  • A Virginia acute care RN working a .8 FTE, or 32 hours per week, earns an average total of $87,941 annually. 
  • Nurses also benefit from Essentia’s health insurance options, with 66% of nurses choosing coverage. Essentia pays up to $29,000 a year for family coverage.
  • Essentia’s commitment to achieving Pathway to Excellence recognition at hospitals like Essentia Health-Virginia means we are focused on uplifting nurses’ voices and ensuring a healthy workplace for all. 
  • Nurses choose to remain at Essentia with 63% of Virginia acute care nurses having worked here for more than five years. 
  • Our nurse turnover rates and vacancy rates are better than benchmarks from our peers across the nation. 

As we prepare for contract negotiations to get underway in July, we want to emphasize our commitment to creating excellent careers for nurses at Essentia. We value our nurses and all they do for our patients. We recognize the importance of working together to focus on strong, sustainable health care for our communities. 

June 11 Update

The collective bargaining agreement between Essentia Health and the Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) covering about 125 acute care nurses in Virginia expires July 31, 2025. We hoped negotiations would begin in June, but the MNA has refused the dates we offered to meet in June and offered no alternatives for Essentia to consider. Our goal is to reach an agreement on a new contract by the time the current one expires.

Please check back to this site for up-to-date information about negotiations and other important topics. Once bargaining begins, we will provide updates on progress at the table.

Time at the bargaining table
We are committed to devoting the necessary time and space needed to negotiate and will do our part to ensure that both are secured. On Monday, May 12, Essentia provided the MNA with 14 business days of availability to meet throughout June and July and asked the MNA for as many consecutive-day meetings as possible. Meeting on consecutive days, in successive weeks, starting well in advance of July 31, gives the parties the best opportunity to reach a timely settlement.

After multiple reminders, the MNA finally responded on May 27, agreeing to only three of the 14 dates that were offered, none of which were consecutive. We immediately responded to the MNA reminding them of our shared responsibility to devote the time needed to have proper discussions and bargain in good faith to reach a new agreement by July 31. We asked the MNA to reconsider and agree to additional dates. On June 3, the MNA responded that they had no additional dates available but shared our goal of reaching an agreement before expiration. We immediately responded, expressing our concerns that the three days they agreed to meet would not be enough to reach a resolution, and we again asked the MNA to share additional available dates. We have not yet received a response from the MNA offering more dates.

So far, the MNA has only agreed to three bargaining dates: July 8, July 24 and July 30. We will continue to push the MNA for additional dates and stress the importance of dedicating the necessary time to reach an agreement beneficial to both parties.

Your Voice
We have been listening to our Virginia nurses over the last three years through our Nurse Practice Councils, shift huddles, Glint surveys, our Labor Management Committee, as well as through daily conversations with nurse leaders and charge nurses. We will do our best to take those issues into consideration as we prepare our contract proposals.

Working together
As always, we strongly encourage our valued nurses to continue to communicate and seek answers to questions from our leaders directly. Through open dialogue, we can work together as a cohesive team.

Last year, Essentia was able to achieve ratified agreements with 27 separate bargaining units. Essentia, and each of the 27 bargaining units, were able to do this by coming together and looking for common ground focused on delivering high-quality health care to our patients in a sustainable way, ensuring our colleagues have a safe and healthy workplace and providing a competitive wage and benefits package. We are very hopeful to have the same positive results here and will continue to push the MNA to devote the proper time to do so.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Below is a representative sample of frequently asked questions (FAQs) about the bargaining process and what it means for MNA and Essentia Health.