Allina Health Hospice Nurses Reach Tentative Agreement on First Union Contract

Allina Health hospice nurses, represented by SEIU Healthcare Minnesota & Iowa, reached a tentative agreement on their first union contract. The agreement came just before a planned vote to authorize an open-ended unfair labor practice (ULP) strike, which the union's bargaining team postponed to allow negotiations to continue.

The tentative deal follows one-day and seven-day ULP strikes held earlier in the summer and fall, according to Hospice News.

Disclosed contract provisions include a union wage scale with guaranteed additional raises up to 20 years of nursing experience, an immediate average 10% first-year wage increase backdated to August 1, and annual increases of 3% in each of years two and three. The agreement also provides 1.5x overtime pay when nurses complete assigned patient-care work beyond their normal scheduled day, including extended charting time, and adds a new mileage-reimbursement system for nurses who have no office.

Abby McDonald, a registered nurse care manager at Allina and union bargaining team member, said the tentative agreement represents meaningful progress on the key issues hospice nurses have been fighting to change, and credited the support of the bargaining unit, patients, the community, and fellow unions for helping secure the changes needed to recruit and retain nurses.

Allina Health operates 12 hospital campuses, 60-plus primary care centers, 20 urgent care locations, and 100-plus specialty care sites, and has announced plans to merge with California-based Sutter Health under a letter of intent signed in March. The full agreement was not disclosed by either party.