Workers at Health Systems Cooperative Laundries are on strike on St. Paul’s East Side.
UPDATED 08/06/13 – Workers United Local 150 reports the strike is over after negotiators reached an agreement on a tentative contract agreement early this morning. Workers will take a ratification vote tomorrow.
“The campaign was a complete success for the union,” Workers United representative Julie Boots said in an e-mail, noting the company agreed to restore workers’ paid sick days and drop changes to contract language, including leave of absence provisions, that drew strong objections from union members.
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After taking a near-unanimous vote to reject their employer’s “last, best and final” contract proposal, more than 240 workers at Health Systems Cooperative Laundries went on strike at 1 p.m. today, setting up a feisty picket line on St. Paul’s East Side.
Members of Workers United Local 150 have been working without a contract since July 14. Negotiations with the co-op have dragged on since February, with workers objecting to changes in contract language that protect basic workers’ rights, union representative Julie Boots said.
“We’ve bent as far as we can bend, and our members have said enough is enough,” Boots said. “We’ve moved as far as we’re going to move.”
The laundry facility, operated by several Twin Cities hospital chains, is using replacement workers who crossed the striking workers’ picket lines.
The union has filed charges of unfair labor practices against Health Systems Cooperative, alleging management unilaterally eliminated union members’ paid sick leave – a seemingly bad idea not only for workers, but for the hospital patients whose linens they clean.
Health Systems Cooperative provides linens to nearly every hospital in the Twin Cities. The co-op’s board of directors includes executives from several hospitals.
In a show of solidarity with striking workers, members of SEIU Healthcare Minnesota distributed leaflets inside and demonstrated outside HealthEast and Fairview hospitals and clinics today.
Workers United Local 150 is asking supporters to call two members of the co-op’s management team and urge them to negotiate a quick end to the strike.
Call Larry Hilton, general manager of Health Systems Cooperative Laundries, at 651-774-8620. Contact Brian Knapp, vice president of operations at Fairview Ridges Hospital and chair of the co-op’s board of directors, at 952-892-2000 or bknapp1@fairview.org.
“Our workers provide a service to all the area hospitals and clinics,” Boots said. “We understand the importance of patients getting clean linens. But it’s been incredibly difficult to negotiate with the stance the company is taking here.”
Union Advocate 