Union approves first contract at Planned Parenthood North Central States

January 19, 2024 by

PPNCS United members held informational picketing in November – a strategy that workers credit with pressuring management to improve its health coverage.

Planned Parenthood North Central States workers in Minnesota and four other states voted to ratify their first union contract this week, capping a tumultuous round of negotiations with the reproductive health organization, where workers voted to unionize in July 2022.

The new contract takes effect retroactively to Jan. 1 and covers about 430 members of PPNCS United, who will see immediate gains in wages and health benefits, according to the union.

The contract establishes a 15-year wage scale and provides raises of 11.75% over three years, including a 4.5% increase in year No. 1. For Planned Parenthood’s lowest-paid employees, a new $19 minimum wage, combined with the first-year wage hike, will mean 17% increase in their pay.

“That’s a huge victory,” said PPNCS triage nurse Nicole Anschutz, who served on the union’s bargaining team. “Some staff who were getting $17 an hour are seeing that increase to almost $20 per hour immediately.”

Union members also won grievance and arbitration rights and a progressive discipline process that requires just cause for terminations – no small victory for a union whose elected leaders alleged that they were targeted and intimidated by management away from the bargaining table.

Anschutz joined the bargaining team after a wave of resignations and firings, prompted by PPNCS management’s move to deliver “final written notices” to all 14 workers elected to represent their union in negotiations. With no grievance or arbitration process in place, union members filed charges of unfair labor practices with the National Labor Relations Board last March – and are still awaiting a decision.

“There were other staff that weren’t a part of the bargaining team that were fired during this process for various reasons too, and we couldn’t fight that,” Anschutz said.

Shay Gingras, a senior research coordinator who served on the union’s bargaining team from the start, noted that the process has played out as PPNCS and its workers face new challenges – and attacks – in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

“We’ve lost too many amazing staff members because of issues we have been facing inside and outside of the organization, so I am happy we won protections and other gains to recognize our important work supporting our patients,” Gingras said.

“As an original bargaining team member, I’m so proud of our team who have fought so hard for so long to win these gains. This has been a really long and difficult process and our fight will continue, but I’m really proud of what we were able to win in this first contract.”

Union leaders and PPNCS reached a tentative agreement on the three-year contract in their 37th bargaining session. Among members who participated in the ratification vote, 84% voted to approve the deal.

Nothing came easily at the bargaining table, committee members said, prompting union members to steadily dial up their public pressure on PPNCS leadership to settle a fair contract. Informational picketing in November outside several facilities, including in St. Paul, had an immediate impact, according to Anschutz.

“Prior to the informational picket, the employer had made it very clear we were going to get nothing on health insurance,” she said. “After the informational picket, we started getting things done on health insurance.”

James Willging, a senior community organizer at PPNCS, said health insurance will become more affordable, especially for workers with children and families, under the new contract.

“This contract gives frontline staff more stability so we can focus on the critical work we do every day,” Willging said. “We hope this will help address our staffing shortage so we can provide the compassionate and kind care our patients deserve.”

Although they celebrated their first contract, Anschutz and other union leaders were quick to note that their union’s efforts in support of workers’ rights and abortion rights is not done.

“It seemed impossible at times, like it was never going to happen,” Anschutz said. “I didn’t expect to cry as much as I did in the whole process. But it’s worth it to have the protections we have now and this foundation that we can build upon in the future.”

PPNCS United is an affiliate of SEIU Healthcare Minnesota and Iowa.

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After ‘unprecedented’ disrespect from Planned Parenthood, union plans to escalate contract campaign

September 8, 2023 by

Planned Parenthood North Central States workers rallied behind their bargaining team in July, with support from elected and labor leaders.

The union of over 400 Planned Parenthood workers in Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska and the Dakotas will enter mediation with the North Central States (PPNCS) chapter after a frustrating round of bargaining last week prompted another elected union leader to resign from the organization.

In a press conference yesterday, April Clark said she used to joke that she was a Planned Parenthood “lifer,” but the senior training and development specialist is now working her final two weeks with the sexual health nonprofit after eight years of service.

Clark was among 14 original members of the union’s bargaining team, and her departure will mean more than half those elected leaders are no longer with PPNCS, after management slapped all 14 with “final written notices” four months into the bargaining process.

The disciplinary action, which the union has challenged as retaliatory and illegal, means any subsequent infraction – no matter how serious – could result in termination. “I feel paranoid about every action that I take, which is not a great way to feel the majority of your waking time,” Clark said.

The move has had a chilling effect throughout the bargaining unit, which voted 264-26 in favor of forming a union with SEIU Healthcare Minnesota and Iowa last year. The nonprofit’s already high turnover rate – a reason workers cited as a factor in forming their union – has climbed to 44% since contract negotiations began, according to organizers.

“For my mental health, I am leaving – like so many other leaders of this bargaining team have done since receiving their final notices,” Clark said, choking back tears. “Unfortunately, so are many of our other coworkers. I don’t know anyone who isn’t actively looking for employment elsewhere, and that isn’t hyperbole.”

For Clark and others, the final straw came during negotiations last week. Previous sessions had yielded “slow but steady progress,” health educator and LGTBQ care coordinator Elizabeth Wolfe said, and at a meeting in July, management pledged to bring a new health insurance proposal to the next session.

But instead of new health care language, Wolfe said, PPNCS executives offered the union a choice between a three-year contract with “minimal wage increases,” or one with bigger raises that clawed back several agreements reached earlier in negotiations, including longevity pay, increases to paid time off and floating holidays, expanded bereavement leave and new professional development opportunities.

“What the negotiators and leaders of our union have told us is that they’ve never seen an employer make a proposal to undo so many substantial pieces of progress already won through the bargaining process,” Wolfe said.

Workers have long since given up hope that Planned Parenthood, an organization with deep progressive roots, would seek a collaborative relationship with their union.

PPNCS refused workers’ petition for voluntary union recognition despite overwhelming support, and the attacks on bargaining team members have drawn comparisons to Starbucks and Amazon from veteran SEIU leaders. The union rescinded its endorsement of PPNCS CEO Ruth Richardson, who served in the Minnesota Legislature until her abrupt resignation last week.

But until now, the union’s frustrations had stemmed from actions away from the bargaining table. The unprecedented exchange last week has union members planning an escalation of their contract campaign.

Raven LaBeau, a health center associate in Minneapolis, said no options are off the table.

“We will accept nothing less than (contract) language that honors and is appropriate for the work that every single one of us does every day,” they said. “This work and those that perform it are too important – too necessary – to tolerate half measures and weak proposals made by management at the table.

“My message to management is this. There are more of us than there are of you, and truly we don’t need you as much as you need us. We are the lifeblood of this affiliate, and it’s time to treat us accordingly.”

PPNCS union members encourage supporters to track their social media feeds – @PPNCSUnited – for information about upcoming calls to action and events.

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SEIU pulls MN lawmaker’s endorsement over union busting at Planned Parenthood

July 7, 2023 by

(SEIU Healthcare Minnesota and Iowa photo)

Planned Parenthood workers this week pledged to continue fighting back against an intimidation campaign targeting elected union leaders at the reproductive health organization’s North Central States chapter.

Meanwhile, the Service Employees (SEIU) union announced it had rescinded its endorsement of the Minnesota legislator who serves as the nonprofit’s CEO. 

Over 440 employees of Planned Parenthood North Central States (PPNCS) voted to form a union with SEIU Healthcare Minnesota and Iowa in July 2022, and they have been in contract negotiations with management for about eight months. 

While the two sides have made some progress toward a first contract, members of the union’s bargaining team allege that, away from negotiations, they have come under heightened scrutiny from management, resulting in excessive and unwarranted disciplinary measures.  

In February, management placed “final warning” notices in all of the bargaining team members’ personnel files, and in March PPNCS used that warning to fire one member, Grace Larson. 

Now, half of the 14 workers originally elected to serve on the bargaining committee have stepped down or no longer work at PPNCS, union leaders said during a virtual press conference yesterday. Those who remain said they fear a misstep as minor as a time card infraction will cost them their jobs. 

“I fear losing my job and being unable to pay my bills,” PPNCS researcher Shay Gingras said. “And I will continue to hold this fear for as long as I am a PPNCS employee and the final warning remains in my file.  

“I joined the process in order to make a positive difference in the lives of PPNCS employees and patients, and I feel as if I am being punished for this work.” 

The union has filed charges against PPNCS with the National Labor Relations Board. SEIU members and staff, meanwhile, have attempted discussions with management, including CEO Ruth Richardson, a DFL state representative from Mendota Heights, about the chilling effects of targeting union leaders, particularly during negotiations. 

But PPNCS has refused to pull back the final warnings or reinstate Larson, who was fired for sending an email from her private address alleging abusive behavior by an ex-colleague, who was seeking employment with another organization at the time. 

“It was something that I grappled with, and ultimately I still stand by my decision,” Larson, a former PPNCS nurse, said. “Planned Parenthood decided my email was retaliation against a co-worker and terminated me. 

“A union contract could have kept me in the clinic. After years of dedication to this organization, giving my blood, sweat and tears and taking pride in what I do every single day, I’ve been left feeling pushed out and unwanted by people in the organization who didn’t know my name 10 months ago.” 

Executive officers and staff at SEIU Healthcare, which represents workers across the table from powerful and notoriously anti-union employers like Allina and Sanford Health, have never seen firsthand such an aggressive attempt to intimidate union leaders, Executive Vice President Phillip Cryan said. He called it “union busting” on par with campaigns at Starbucks and Amazon. 

“This is a long way off from the kind of pro-worker, progressive approach to their staff union that these workers expected and the labor movement expected when these workers organized last year,” Cryan said, adding that SEIU leadership had given PPNCS, including Richardson, “countless opportunities to walk back these extreme actions” before asking the SEIU Minnesota State Council to rescind its endorsement. 

Richardson did not directly respond to a request for comment on union busting at PPNCS or the SEIU endorsement. But PPNCS issued a statement denying the bargaining team members’ allegations and emphasizing its commitment to completing the negotiations. 

“Planned Parenthood North Central States leadership remains committed to bargaining in good faith with SEIU and remain committed to adhering to the law,” the statement reads. “As we have stated previously, no staff have been disciplined or fired by PPNCS for union organizing, however, unions are not designed to be a shield for misconduct.” 

As the NLRB investigates workers’ charges, SEIU members plan to raise awareness of the increasingly toxic work environment at PPNCS – and demand Larson’s reinstatement – at public rallies across the organization’s five-state jurisdiction. The rallies will also demand accountability from PPNCS leaders regarding a recent decision to close three clinics in Iowa. 

During the press conference, workers said they are hopeful of drawing support from both the reproductive care community and the labor movement.  

“We don’t want to pit abortion rights and workers’ rights against each other, especially right now,” Larson said. 

No other union has pulled its endorsement of Richardson, who has a strong voting record on labor issues and drew praise from labor leaders as a lead author of the new statewide family leave law.  

But the dispute is likely to draw increased attention with the Legislature adjourned. Delegates to the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation last month approved a resolution in support of SEIU’s campaign to hold Richardson accountable for union busting at PPNCS. 

“A CEO who engages in this course of conduct toward the elected leaders of a union and who stands by those decisions and refuses to make any changes to them – even as the actions cause fully half of the union bargaining team to no longer be working for the organization she leads – does not deserve the labor movement’s support,” Cryan said. “She has done some great things as an elected official, but her actions as CEO fly in the face of those accomplishments.” 

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Union election begins for over 400 Planned Parenthood workers

June 27, 2022 by

Over 400 Planned Parenthood workers in five states, including Minnesota, will begin voting by mail this week in a union organizing election. The National Labor Relations Board will tally votes July 21.

Frontline workers at Planned Parenthood North Central States’ 28 facilities in Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska are eligible to participate in the mail-in election. The bargaining unit would include workers in roughly 100 different roles, from admin and marketing staff to pharmacists and registered nurses.

The union drive, supported by SEIU Healthcare Minnesota and Iowa, began over a year ago, and workers petitioned for a NLRB election May 26 after collecting signatures of support from a majority of frontline staffers.

But at a virtual press conference held after the filing, workers acknowledged that a leaked Supreme Court opinion overturning Roe v. Wade added urgency to the organizing push.

The ruling became official Friday, and it triggers laws criminalizing abortion – among the services Planned Parenthood provides – in the Dakotas. Anti-abortion lawmakers have pledged action in other states, too.

“Our right to provide this care is constantly under attack, and we can’t afford to lose dedicated, mission-driven abortion care providers to burnout and exhaustion,” said Sadie Brewer, a registered nurse at the clinic on Vandalia Street in St. Paul. “Now more than ever, we need as much protection and security as possible, and a union is going to give us that.”

Planned Parenthood workers provide cancer screenings, birth control, family planning, sexual and reproductive health education, political and community organizing and other services in addition to abortion care.

“We all chose to work for Planned Parenthood because we care for the mission and the community we serve, and the company has taken us for granted for far too long,” Brewer said.

Like other nonprofit workers who have formed unions in recent years, Planned Parenthood staffers hope to gain more control over decisions that affect their day-to-day work in support of the organization’s mission.

April Clark, a registered nurse from Iowa who has 10 years of experience with Planned Parenthood, said workers’ concerns too often go unaddressed by management, resulting in “an extremely high turnover rate” that she sees in her role as a senior training and development specialist.

“I am often training the same position in the same clinics over and over again, and this has been an ongoing trend for the last several years,” Clark said. “Caretakers often cannot voice issues on the job in a way that leads to meaningful change. We trudge on until we burn out, and then we leave.”

Planned Parenthood workers said wages and working conditions also factored into the decision to unionize. Many of her co-workers, Brewer said, are “overworked, underpaid and undervalued.”

“Unfortunately, I’ve seen many of these people move on after their ideas and concerns went unheard by the executive team far too long,” Brewer added. “The executive team is constantly making decisions that affect us with little to no input from the people doing the actual work.”

In that sense, Planned Parenthood workers said they believe collective bargaining will benefit themselves, their patients and the organization they support.

“As caregivers, we can be empathetic to a fault, and in part this has been why it has been so easy for our passion to be exploited,” said Mimi Arabalo, a health educator in the Omaha clinic. “But it is also why we are taking this stand together. What kind of Planned Parenthood employees would we be if we didn’t believe in advocacy?”

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