Local 12 members rallied outside HealthPartners’ offices in Bloomington on a day that saw the union hold informational picketing at over 30 locations across the metro.
Members of Office and Professional Employees (OPEIU) Local 12 held informational picketing Nov. 26 at the 31 HealthPartners offices and clinics across the Twin Cities where they work, hoping to give the health provider a preview of what’s coming if workers are forced to strike.
The picketing, held four days before OPEIU members’ contract was set to expire, drew solidarity from members of SEIU Healthcare Minnesota and Iowa who also work at HealthPartners.
At a rally outside HealthPartners’ corporate offices in Bloomington, Local 12 members blasted the organization’s executives for pleading poverty at the bargaining table while their CEO earns $1,500 per hour – more than many members earn in a pay period.
OPEIU members are sticking to three priorities in bargaining: maintaining their health insurance benefits, raising wages to keep up with inflation and ending abuse and harassment on the job.
“I don’t get paid enough to get abused over the phone,” Tia Burnett, a Local 12 member and clinic assistant HealthPartners’ Woodbury facility. “I’m one of the many people here who work three jobs. I’m a single person with no kids, and I’m still struggling to make ends meet due to the fact that I’m not getting paid enough.”
The union said HealthPartners has demanded a 400% increase to members’ health insurance premiums and out-of-pocket costs. At the rally in Bloomington, which union members at other locations were looped into via Zoom, bargaining team member Paula Moyer called the employers’ health benefit proposal “punitive and outrageous.”
“We know we have great benefits, but the benefits we have fought for are what we think everyone in the country should have,” Moyer, a clinic assistant, said. “We’re not going back.”
Local 12 members work at the front desks and check-ins at clinics and in support positions such as scheduling, claims and accounting.
– Michael Moore, Union Advocate editor
Union Advocate 