Washington County workers ready to strike for staffing, mental health benefits

March 20, 2026 by

Members of AFSCME Local 517 march together into the Washington County Board meeting March 24.

Members of a bargaining unit representing nearly 900 Washington County employees voted in late February to authorize a strike, demanding a new union contract that addresses understaffing and improves their access to mental-health benefits.

Local 517 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) delivered a petition with over 1,800 signatures to the Board of Commissioners this morning.

The bargaining unit brings together a range of county employees, from social workers and child support officers to workers who handle property records and maintain county facilities.

Local 517’s previous contract expired Dec. 31, although its terms remain in effect as talks continue. The two sides are scheduled to resume talks with a state mediator April 17.

Workers don’t want to strike, Local 517 President Benjamin Henry, an eligibility specialist with the county, said. But they do want the county to take their concerns seriously.

“As long as they’re willing to meet with us and work in good faith to come to an agreement that works for both sides, we have no intention of calling a strike at this particular time,” he said.

But Henry also noted that any work stoppage would cripple the county’s ability to deliver services because, as workers have been pointing out at the bargaining table, their departments are already stretched so thin.

“This county has been grinding people to the bone for countless years,” Henry said. “They run a skeleton crew almost everywhere. Even a loss of 40% of the workforce would be devastating.”

Burnout on the front line

The union’s top two demands – accessible mental health care and better staffing – are related. Backlogs in some offices, Henry said, stretch months longer than state guidelines recommend, leaving staff members to deal with the stress of increasingly frustrated clients and community members.

“It’s not a sustainable model,” he said.

As their ranks have thinned through attrition, the work many members of the bargaining unit are doing has become more complex. That leads to what Carrie Genereux, a chief steward and Family Services worker for the county, called “secondary trauma.”

“A lot of the folks we’re working with on a daily basis have experienced some trauma, and the people who are helping are also impacted by that,” she said. “It plays a major role in why the focus on mental health is so important right now… Our jobs are hard, and they’ve always been hard, but it’s a different level of hard now.”

After the bargaining unit lost three people to suicide in recent years – with another worker attempting suicide and co-workers calling for a wellness check on a fifth – Local 517 came to the bargaining table with a dozen proposals for removing barriers that union members said they encounter in accessing mental health care.

The biggest barrier is out-of-pocket costs, which have increased by as much as 40% in recent years, and workers say their employer-sponsored insurance plans rate among the least affordable for county employees in the region.

“The high-deductible plan is what most of our folks can afford,” Henry said. “And for an individual, you’re looking at $3,500 as a deductible before $1 is covered on anything… people are finding it difficult to spend $200 to $250 once or twice a week to meet with a therapist.”

‘It didn’t feel like a negotiation’

In the first mediation session Feb. 2, county administrators leveled up their wage proposal, matching cost-of-living increases extended to two other bargaining units. But the employer brushed aside Local 517’s proposals around staffing and mental health, demanding the union bring their proposal to membership for a vote.

“It didn’t feel like a negotiation to me,” Henry said. “It felt like, you’ll take it and you’ll like it.”

Members voted to reject the offer and, Henry said, sent a message to county administrators that “they are failing to acknowledge that these are significant areas of impact for our members, who are standing up for themselves.”

Indeed, Local 517 has seen a surge in interest since the contract campaign began. Genereux said a significant number of workers covered by the bargaining unit have since signed up to join the union.

“If we’re not taken care of, we can’t take care of the community,” she said. “Our members want to make sure we are staffed appropriately and we are able to manage our own lives in a way that allows us to do our jobs and show up and serve this community.

– Michael Moore, Union Advocate editor

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New state grants support suicide prevention in construction industry

February 3, 2026 by

Text or call 988 to find judgment-free support for mental health, substance use, and more. Or chat with someone at 988lifeline.org.

The Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry awarded new grant funding last month to help two organizations tackle a leading safety hazard in the construction industry: mental health.

Minnesota Building Trades unions partnered last year with their employers, represented by the Associated General Contractors (AGC), to push state lawmakers to address the mental-health crisis in their industry, pointing to suicide rates among construction workers that are four times higher than the national average – and even higher among men.

With the combined $750,000 in new funding, two organizations – the AGC of Minnesota Foundation and Suicide Awareness Voices of Education – will create outreach and engagement programs tailored to construction workers, aimed at promoting mental well-being and preventing suicide.

In a statement announcing the grants, DLI Commissioner Nicole Blissenbach said prioritizing construction workers’ mental health “will save lives.”

The new grant program is modeled after a similar initiative, led by the state’s Department of Agriculture, to address higher suicide rates among family farmers.

Both farmers and tradespeople face stressors unique to their communities. For construction workers, they can include working long hours away from home. And employment is cyclical for most; when their trade wraps work on one project, there is no guarantee of a job waiting for them on another.

LIUNA Minnesota and North Dakota President and Business Manager Joel Smith, a leading advocate for the DLI’s new grant program, said the macho culture on a construction job site can make some tradespeople hesitant to ask for help dealing with stress.

But the construction industry has changed its culture before, Smith added.

“Thirty-four years ago when I got my start, safety wasn’t emphasized nearly as much,” Smith said during a breakout on mental health during LIUNA’s infrastructure summit last October.

“We changed the culture around safety. Now we need to change that culture around mental health, to remove the stigma and let our people know it’s OK to talk about it. But it’s going to take all of us.”

For its part, the unionized trades and their contractors in Minnesota already have begun the work of changing their approach to mental health, even before lawmakers approved funding for the new grant program.

Many unions and their contractors have begun including mental-health awareness into their first-aid trainings and increasing the number of times workers can access their employee-assistance programs (EAPs). LIUNA rolled out a hardhat sticker – “What’s Underneath Your Hardhat?” – encouraging members to look out for each other’s wellbeing.

With the new grant funding, AGC CEO Tim Worke said, the contractors’ foundation and its partners in labor – and, he hopes, local developers – will expand on work to break stigmas around mental health in the industry.

Plans include an expanded suicide prevention training, with a new, tailored curriculum that will reach more than 1,500 construction apprentices statewide.

During the summit last fall, Worke said the stakes are high not just in terms of saving lives, but for the industry’s success in recruiting and retaining young workers, too.

“I’m absolutely convinced that if we cannot change folks in the industry that do not value mental health, the workforce is going to respond with their feet,” he said. “They’re going to move to another industry that does.”

– Michael Moore, UA editor

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Mental health workers strike: ‘Allina does not respect us in the slightest’

October 6, 2022 by

Mental Health workers on strike at Abbott Northwestern hold a rally on the picket line.

Mental health workers at two Twin Cities hospitals wrapped up a three-day strike Wednesday, with union members rallying on the picket line outside Abbott Northwestern and vowing not to be bullied in contract negotiations with Allina Health.

“It has been quite evident that Allina does not respect us in the slightest,” said Jordan Cich, a senior mental health coordinator at Abbott and member of the union’s bargaining team.

The strike impacted over 130 workers at Abbott and Unity Hospital in Fridley, who unionized with SEIU Healthcare Minnesota and Iowa one year ago to bargain for better wages and safer working conditions.

Union members called a strike for the second time since talks began last winter, in part, because Allina has refused to outline their benefits – like health insurance, paid time off and leaves of absence – in the proposed contract. Union Vice President Brenda Hilbrich, a veteran negotiator, called it an extremely unusual approach.

“The employer has taken a very surprising position on not including those things in our contract,” Hilbrich said. “And we are not going to settle a contract without those items included.”

The strike authorization vote drew 98% support, as Allina’s delay tactics at the bargaining table have only added to longstanding frustrations over shortstaffing, safety and lack of respect from their employer, Cich said.

“In January, members of our bargaining team were voicing our concerns about staffing and violence in the workplace, and all Allina replied was, ‘We don’t want to hear any more of your sob stories,’” she recalled.

As they did during a one-day strike last May, Allina workers were poised to walk out this week at the same time as 350 mental health workers at M Health Fairview, who also unionized with SEIU Healthcare last year.

But Fairview workers postponed their strike after productive bargaining sessions last week, and after a 12-hour bargaining session Monday, the bargaining team reached a tentative agreement with the employer on a first union contract.

If ratified, union members at Fairview will see average wage increases around 6% immediately, with another 2.75% increase in March. Other highlights include additional paid time off and “initial grievance procedures to address staffing concerns,” according to the union.

Throughout their union drive and in negotiations, mental health workers have pointed to a shared interest being treated and compensated as professionals. Staffing issues persist, union members have said, because providing mental health care takes a steep toll on workers’ own mental and emotional well being – and sometimes their physical health, too.

Fairview psych associate Jenny Webster, who has 20 years of experience at Riverside Hospital, said winning a first contract is a step toward stabilizing care in her facility.

“Because of our efforts, we reached the best deal possible for our important work, and I am proud of what we accomplished,” said Webster. “So many people have experienced mental health issues themselves or to a loved one, especially during the pandemic. Raising wages and getting a first contract will mean better care for our patients.”

Now, it’s up to Allina Health to get serious about doing the same for mental health staff and patients, Cich said.

“We want to have enough staff to support not only our patients, but each other as well,” she said. “What we do every day can be very dangerous. We deserve to be protected at work, respected at work and compensated for the work that we do.”

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Mental health workers notify Allina, Fairview of intent to strike again

September 26, 2022 by

Mental health workers picketed outside MHealth Fairview hospital during a one-day strike in May

More Twin Cities health care workers are poised to strike for safer hospital staffing.

Mental health workers at MHealth Fairview and two Allina Health hospitals notified the providers today of their intent to open a three-day strike Oct. 3. The bargaining units bring together over 400 essential employees who organized unions with SEIU Healthcare Minnesota and Iowa last year.

The union announced 98% of participating members voted to authorize a three-day strike last month, a sign of increasing frustration with the lack of progress toward first contracts that address their top priorities.

“We are ready to strike because we are facing dangerous staffing levels and it feels like no one in power cares,” said Dana Disbrow, a psychiatric associate at MHealth Fairview. “The current staffing situation is a nightmare, and we are fighting for a fair contract that finally addresses these concerns.”

In addition to staffing shortfalls, union members want contract language that addresses safety issues inside their buildings, including threats of gun violence.

“We face many challenging and risky situations every shift,” said Amanda Reasor, a senior mental health coordinator at Allina Unity Hospital. “We want to be able to have the resources we need to cope with the constant stress that we are under and have guidelines that further protect us from harm.”

Union members raised those concerns in a one-day strike May 24, during Mental Health Awareness Month. But Kellie Benson, senior mental health coordinator at Abbott, said hospital administrators still aren’t listening.

“The longer our employers dismiss the significant concerns raised by staff working face to face with patients in mental health care, the harder it will be to heal, not only for those experiencing mental health crises, but for our entire community,” Benson said.

Union members work as psych associates and behavioral assistants at MHealth Fairview Hospital, and as senior mental health coordinators at Allina Health’s Abbott Northwestern and Unity hospitals.

MHealth and Allina employees bargain at separate tables, and each unit has one scheduled session left before the unfair-labor-practice strike is scheduled to start.

The systems were among those affected by a historic, three-day strike by 15,000 members of the Minnesota Nurses Association earlier this month. Like nurses fighting for contracts that put patients over profits, mental health workers said they are fighting for contracts stabilize their industry for workers and patients

“It is unfortunate that we feel the only way Allina will hear us is if we take drastic action,” Reasor said. “We have made immense strides toward a fair resolution while also demanding fair wages, wholistic benefits, and a safer workplace. We deserve to be treated like the professionals we are, yet Allina has come back time and time again saying ‘not interested’ to some of the most important facets to our contract.

“If we don’t see significant strides on Allina’s part, we will strike.”

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Psych workers at M Health, Allina strike during Mental Health Awareness Month

May 25, 2022 by

Mental health workers picket outside M Health Fairview Hospital in Minneapolis during a one-day strike.

How do you observe Mental Health Awareness Month when the crisis in your workplace continues to worsen?

Over 400 mental health workers in the Twin Cities answered that question yesterday by going on strike for union contracts that address safety concerns and low wages in their industry.

The one-day strike over unfair labor practices brought picket lines to three local hospitals: Allina’s Abbott Northwestern and Unity hospitals and M Health Fairview Hospital, where workers converged for a noon-hour rally with elected officials and other community allies.

Stephanie Stark, a senior mental health coordinator at Allina Health, said members of SEIU Healthcare Minnesota and Iowa decided to strike to raise awareness of the “historic underfunding and lack of respect for mental health work.”

“It’s time for those in charge to take this crisis seriously,” she said. “This work is too important to be ignored and undervalued.”

Mental health workers joined the SEIU in a wave of organizing campaigns last fall, and they are currently bargaining their first contracts with Allina and M Health.

Union members’ top priorities in those talks are respect for their work, safety protections for workers and patients, and a “pay scale in line with our professional degrees,” Unity Hospital senior mental health coordinator Christy Beach said.

Beach and other union leaders said pay increases are necessary to recruit and retain workers in facilities too often overwhelmed by community needs. On the picket line outside M Health Fairview, several workers carried signs referencing the recent conversion of an ambulance bay at the Masonic Children’s Hospital into a shelter for children awaiting mental or emotional health services.

“James Hereford, what did he get, $3.9 million last year?” M Health psych associate Brian McIntosh said, calling out M Health’s CEO by name. “Having these kids in this ambulance bay is not right, and that’s what we’re about to change.”

Workers also described an uptick in violence and safety issues. McIntosh said one co-worker burned through her paid time off after suffering a cracked rib on the job, and another told him the post-traumatic stress from a workplace assault still jolts her awake at night.

Despite dozens of bargaining sessions with the health systems, workers’ safety and wage demands have fallen largely on deaf ears, prompting a near-unanimous vote to authorize the strike before Mental Health Awareness Month ends.

“We are showing those in charge that we are serious about making change in our industry,” Stark said.

Mental health workers picketed outside MHealth Fairview hospital during a one-day strike in May

Several elected officials joined the picket lines and the rally at M Health Fairview. State Sen. Erin Murphy (D-St. Paul), a registered nurse, told mental health workers that by advocating for themselves, they are advocating for their communities.

“It is up to you, in the end, to take care of the patient,” Murphy said. “It’s not the people in the corner office that are doing that work. It’s you, and you need to be protected and staffed in such a way that you can do your jobs with skill and care.”

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, when advocates push for increased support for the 1 in 5 Americans who live with mental illness or a substance-use disorder, and seek to reduce the stigma associated with them, according to the American Psychiatric Association.

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