Members of Doctors Council picket outside Allina Health’s West St. Paul clinic June 3.
Doctors at Allina Health’s clinics and urgent cares formed a union in 2023 to restore their voice in decisions that impact patient care. Today, they took that campaign to the streets, setting up informational picket lines outside four metro-area facilities.
The bargaining unit of 600 doctors, physicians’ assistants and nurse practitioners took the historic step – they are the first doctors to picket in Minnesota, according to their international union – 15 months into bargaining a first contract with Allina.
On the picket line near the West St. Paul clinic where she practices, Dr. Cora Walsh said union members hoped to show Allina that they aren’t backing down from the demands that sparked their organizing drive.
“We took a professional oath, and we are here today to fight for the tools we need to continue to deliver on that promise,” she said.
For union members, that means adequate staffing in their clinics – not only for practitioners, but also for clinical assistants, nurses, lab workers and others outside their bargaining unit.
It also means having safe workplaces, good wages and benefits, and the time they need to deliver quality care to their patients.
Walsh said too many of her colleagues feel like they are “drowning” in a workload that extends well beyond their clinic’s hours. Union members want protected time to devote to administrative tasks, training, communication and other responsibilities, so that they don’t come at a cost to quality care in the exam room.
“We need a lifeline so we can continue to be there for our patients and attract the next generation of primary-care clinicians,” Walsh said. “We know what we need to make our jobs sustainable. This is why we unionized.”
Since bargaining began in February 2024, the two sides have reached tentative agreements on scheduling procedures, a new mentorship program and labor-management committee, discipline language and safety protections.
But Allina has refused even to discuss issues like clinic staffing, said Dr. Matt Hoffman, who works at the Vadnais Heights clinic. The employer’s economic proposal, meanwhile, would cut union members’ pay at a time when many in the industry are steering away from careers in primary care.
“The contract Allina is offering us will unquestionably worsen primary care,” he said. “In real time, we are watching a nonprofit, charity health system work against its own doctors who are trying to make their profession sustainable.”
Talks around protecting time with patients, Hoffman added, “have gone nowhere,” while Allina executives continue to seek ways to extract more out of practitioners.
In the urgent care where he works, Dr. Dain Meyer said Allina has introduced a troubling new metric to evaluate doctors: patients treated per hour.
“We should be aiming at highest quality and not fastest speed,” he said, adding that it’s “challenging to sort through” the increasingly complex medical issues that doctors are seeing in the urgent care with confidence “when we’re constantly pressed for time.”
Members of the Doctors Council, a Service Employees (SEIU) affiliate, also picketed outside Allina clinics in Bloomington, Coon Rapids and Maplewood this morning. The actions started at 6 a.m. and wrapped up before clinics opened.
For Walsh, it was her first time on a picket line.
“This is not just a job, it’s a calling for us,” she said. “It feels good because we’re fighting for patient care that we know could be better.”
– Michael Moore, UA editor
Union Advocate 