Strike ends as Hazelden nurses ratify historic contract with safety guarantees

July 30, 2026 by

Members of the Minnesota Nurses Association vote on the proposed contract with Hazelden.

Nurses ended their strike at the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation’s Center City campus this week, settling a first contract that, union members say, will address concerns that sparked their historic organizing campaign.

Members of the Minnesota Nurses Association’s bargaining unit – about 60 nurses in all – voted to ratify the contract today. Union negotiators reached a tentative agreement with Hazelden on Tuesday.

That brought a halt to picketing outside the prestigious addiction-treatment facility that began July 15 and persisted through steamy temperatures, smoky air and gridlock at the bargaining table.

That resolve sent a strong message to management, members of the bargaining team said.

“It was taxing physically, financially, mentally and sometimes spiritually, but the best thing about it was we were really able to bond on that line,” Anne Coleman, a registered nurse at Hazelden for the last two years, said. “And not only did we bond, but we were able to have our voices heard, which we know has not been the case consistently for years and years – especially around security and safety.

“This was historic, and I’m really proud of our team.”

Indeed, nurses at the Chisago County campus became the first anywhere across Hazelden Betty Ford’s system to win a union contract, and one of their key gains – providing staff with panic buttons – will extend to nurses and other caregivers nationwide, veteran registered nurse Jody Burton said.

“It’s going to be in California, Chicago, Florida – it’s a huge win,” Burton said. “From Day 1, they were like, ‘No, this (safety language) is never going to be part of your contract.’ But we won it, and we won it for everyone. We’re a powerful team.”

The contract establishes a firm deadline for management to implement panic buttons and other workplace safety measures. Nurses also pushed Hazelden to staff their rural facility with security or safety personnel, and the employer committed to “a contractual pathway to implement safety staff,” according to MNA.

Safety emerged as a top issue in negotiations for union members, who pointed to the increased abuse of highly potent drugs, like fentanyl, among their patients. MNA pulled public data that found county sheriff’s deputies responded to nearly three calls each week, on average, to the Center City campus between Jan. 1, 2025, and July 19, 2026.

Coleman called the contract “a move in the right direction that I don’t think would have happened if we had not gone on strike,” and she pledged that the union would “keep promoting and advocating for safety protocols to help us do our jobs.”

“And it’s not just about the nurses,” she added. “I think about the techs who have been in verbal and physical altercations. I think about the other nurses who have been kicked, punched, spit on. I think about the other patients who are terrified by a psychosis event. In a highly emotional, stressful environment, there should be better safeguards, and this contract is leading that way.”

The contract also delivers economic gains and puts nurses’ health-insurance benefits in writing, protecting against the kind of sudden, arbitrary cuts that many Hazelden employees experienced two years ago – and provided the spark for nurses to form a union with MNA.

Additionally, nurses gained recognition of their full bargaining unit, including casual and on-call nurses. Hazelden fought to divide the unit during their organizing drive, forcing two separate union elections, both of which were successful.

Now, Burton said, nurses are eager to get back to work and back to their patients. The financial strain of going on strike was significant for many union members, she added.

“But you could never tell by the way people showed up on the line with their family, shouting and screaming and digging in their feet,” Burton said. “We would have fought longer if we’d have had to.”

– Michael Moore, UA editor

Filed Under: Organizing, Union Events Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Hazelden nurses ‘not backing down’ as strike enters second week

July 23, 2026 by

Nurses speak with press after bargaining with Hazelden in St. Paul Tuesday.

Nurses bargaining a first union contract with the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation launched an open-ended strike July 15 at the renowned addiction-treatment facility in Center City, and their picket line remains up after two bargaining sessions this week.

Members of the Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) voted to authorize a strike nearly a year into negotiations. Nurses have filed multiple unfair-labor-practice complaints during that time, accusing Hazelden of making unilateral changes to working conditions without bargaining and attempting to prevent workers from protected union activity.

But nurses also say that, at the bargaining table, Hazelden has refused to address the issues behind their vote to unionize in January 2025, including workplace safety, competitive wages and benefits, and improved working conditions that they need to care for patients with increasingly complex needs.

“We keep coming with a new solution that they’re immediately shutting down,” Jody Burton, a registered nurse with nearly 11 years of experience at Hazelden, said. “We come with a different solution; they shut it down. We’ve been doing this for almost a year now, and they don’t ever bring a solution to the table.”

Burton and other members of MNA’s bargaining team have been traveling to negotiations in St. Paul – nearly an hour’s drive from their workplace in Center City – at Hazelden’s request.

Back in Chisago County, members of the 60-person bargaining unit are keeping an active picket line up at the intersection of U.S. Highway 8 and Pleasant Valley Road, near the entrance to Hazelden’s main campus. (Support is welcome on the picket line; follow MNA’s social media for updates.)

“We literally have had people on the lines in the hottest days, in bad quality air,” Burton said. “We haven’t budged. We are still strong, still energized, and we will still be there every day that (management) are not willing to negotiate because we are fighting for a reason – for our patients to have a safe place to change.”

Hazelden nurses picket in Center City.

But safety has been a sticking point in contract negotiations between MNA and Hazelden.

At a time when healthcare workers nationwide are expressing concerns about workplace safety, Hazelden nurses are increasingly treating patients under the influence of highly potent drugs like fentanyl. Nurses say the de-escalation tactics that they are trained to use when a patient becomes violent are insufficient alone.

In bargaining, nurses have floated proposals like round-the-clock security, panic buttons and minimum staffing levels to protect patients, caregivers and visitors. Hazelden has responded that a greater security presence is incompatible with its care environment, according to union members.

“Some of us who have been at Hazelden for decades, we’ve seen a shift in the patients that we take in, and with that shift comes a lot of violence,” Burton said. “We may not have needed those (protections) five, seven or 10 years ago, but we need them now.”

But on Day 1 of the strike, nurses were quick to notice that security personnel crossed their picket line to support replacement nurses – “the same security protections nurses have been bargaining for over the past year but still have not received,” bargaining team member Ann Coleman said.

“Temporary nursing staff have security, and we don’t. Let that sink in,” Coleman added. “Safety isn’t a luxury, and it’s not optional – and it shouldn’t be something nurses have to fight for.”

MNA and Hazelden are scheduled to resume bargaining tomorrow, and they have another session scheduled July 28. Coleman said the strike won’t end until management comes ready to “bargain with purpose.”

“We’re not backing down,” she added.

– Michael Moore, UA editor

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Target Field workers dig in for fair contract: ‘We love the Twins. We love the fans. But that love is not going to pay our bills.’

July 20, 2026 by
Roxy Hoda holding a picket sign outside Target Field

Target Field suites worker Roxy Hoda, a resident of St. Paul, is on her union’s bargaining team in talks with Delaware North.

For as long as the Twins have been playing baseball at Target Field, Roxy Hoda has been hosting fans in the luxury suites. The 37-year-old from St. Paul went to work at the ballpark in 2010, and she now serves on the bargaining team for her union, UNITE HERE Local 17, in contract negotiations with the team’s concessionaire, Delaware North.

Union members made history June 22, staging the first ever strike at a Twin Cities sports stadium, and Hoda was among those walking the picket line before the Twins and Dodgers took the field. In this interview, which has been edited for length, she talked about the decision to strike, why workers are pushing so hard for their demands and what hospitality workers want Twins fans to know.

UA: Did Delaware North make any effort to avoid this strike after you announced the date almost two weeks ago?

RH: We’ve met several times since then, and the only improvement that they made was saying that they would give our non-tipped employees and minimum-wage employees an extra 10 cents an hour, so a 60-cent raise over the life of the contract.

UA: That doesn’t sound like much movement.

RH: No, and they’re very careful with their language. They’ll say things like, ‘We only have so much allocated money. We only have so much in the pot.’ They want it to come across that they can’t afford it, but we know that’s not true. Otherwise, they would show their economic data to our union. They just don’t want to eat into their profit margins at all, not even for their own employees.

UA: You’re supposed to take their word for it.

RH: It’s tricky because we know our local management is just responding to corporate directions.

UA: Did management reach out today before the strike began, or have the Twins stepped in at all?

RH: My understanding is that everything has come to a halt. Delaware North has requested a mediator for our negotiations, which we as a union will not do (because) we know that will silence our voices. They want to sit in a separate room, so they don’t have to operate so carefully with their words and don’t have to listen to our employee impact statements. That’s unacceptable to us. We deserve to be in that room, especially since there has been little to no movement on many of our very reasonable requests.

As far as the Twins are concerned, they have not reached out to us as employees. I’m not sure about the union. I feel they are just trying to stay out of it. But I really hope that they see what we’re doing here today. We love the Twins organization. We love our guests. We love the fans. But that love is not going to pay our bills. It’s not going to get us healthcare. And we deserve, as hospitality professionals, to be treated that way.

UA: What are the big issues for you, personally?

RH: No. 1 is healthcare. My partner and I have two kids. Both of us are hospitality professionals, and we’ve had to rely on marketplace insurance for a long time. About three years ago we were paying $800 per month, not including deductibles. That was a lot, but it was doable. That amount has almost tripled. It is almost as much as our mortgage.

Delaware North has this opportunity to join the UNITE HERE Health Fund, which nationwide has over 200,000 union workers in it. Because of that, insurance companies are able to offer steep discounts. All we’re asking Delaware North to do is join that trust, but they’re not interested.

UA: With all the money made off of these stadiums, it doesn’t seem like too much to ask that employers pitch in toward healthcare.

RH: There are other stadiums (in the Twin Cities) with contracts that are coming open with other hospitality companies. A lot of my co-workers work at multiple stadiums, and that makes up a full-time job for them. We’re the first ones that are kind of setting the tone, and we want to make sure that we’re holding firm. We deserve healthcare.

UA: What do you like about working in the Target Field suites?

RH: It’s like my second family. I feel like I grew up here. A lot of us have been to each other’s baby showers, and I’ve had the same clients for a lot of the time too. I work with a lot of big companies throughout Minnesota, and I love them to death. Overall, I think it’s just such a joy.

Working here is important, too. I think the pandemic really showed us, when you take the fun out of life, what that looks like. That’s what we do. We want people to come to the game, have a good time, forget the worries going on in their lives, and make memories with their friends, family and loved ones.

UA: Have you ever been on strike before?

RH: No.

UA: What do you want people coming to the game – and all Twins fans – to know about this?

RH: We are hospitality professionals, and this is a real career. A lot of us have degrees in other fields. We do this job because we’re good at it, and it really does make a difference in people’s lives. I think people just don’t realize that because we’re always smiling, but it is socially taxing. Still, it is a passion of ours.

UA: You and many others are not going in to work today, but what do you expect will happen with those who do?

RH: We have seen some scabs coming in today. However, I’m giving them some grace because I know that this is scary, and a lot of people are very worried about their jobs. I understand that there is a hard decision to make here.

But even though not every issue on the table affects me personally, I know it affects a lot of other people at the stadium. To me, I think it’s more important to stand up for everyone and to be unified.

– This “Labor Q&A” appeared in The Union Advocate’s August 2026 print edition.

Filed Under: Labor Voices Tagged With: , , , ,

Target Field workers call June 22 strike, urge Twins to ‘step up’

June 11, 2026 by

Nariel Green (L) leads fellow Target Field concessions workers in a chant: “Fifty cents won’t pay the rent.”

Got tickets to the Twins’ home game June 22 against the Dodgers at Target Field?

Expect picket lines outside and long lines inside, as concessions workers plan to strike during the opener of a three-game series against the defending World Series champs.

UNITE HERE Local 17 announced the one-day strike outside Target Field this morning. Union officers and rank-and-file members warned fans, the team and its concessionaire, Delaware North Company, that picket lines will go up June 22 unless the sides settle before then.

The bargaining unit brings together about 500 workers in Target Field’s concession stands and premium restaurants. Members voted last month to authorize their negotiators to call a strike, with 81% support.

Union members entered bargaining with Delaware North in April seeking a $20 minimum wage, job protections and a pathway to healthcare benefits for workers at Target Field and other local stadiums.

But in six sessions since then, the union says, management has refused to take those demands seriously.

The two sides are meeting again today, but Local 17 Secretary-Treasurer Sheigh Freeberg said workers’ patience is running out.

“They’ve had our proposals for months,” Freeberg said during a press conference. “We only just got their economic proposal.”

That offer would hold hourly wages flat for some workers and raise others’ by 50 cents. Many Target Field concessions workers earn minimum wage, which is just over $16 per hour in Minneapolis.

Purnell Payne, a bartender at Target Field, said the stadium’s increasing use of nonprofit volunteers to sell concessions raises safety concerns – especially when it comes to alcohol sales.

“Fifty cents won’t pay the rent,” Local 17 member Nariel Green said, leading union supporters in a brief chant.

Green added that Delaware North’s refusal to discuss issues – like faulty equipment, unequal treatment and an increasing reliance on nonprofit volunteers to do union members’ work – shows a lack of respect for the workers who are critical to fans’ experience at the ballpark

“They expect us to show up with a positive attitude when we are treated like second-class citizens,” Green said. “All they have done (in bargaining) is waste our time repeatedly.”

Local 17 has had “minimal” engagement with the Twins about the slow pace of contract negotiations, Freeberg said, but he called on the club to “step up” and “tell Delaware North to come to a fair agreement because the Twins organization will be affected by a strike.”

Local 17 has represented workers in Target Field concession stands since the ballpark opened in 2010. Last fall, about 200 workers in the facility’s premium restaurants won their campaign to join the union too, nearly doubling the size of the bargaining unit – and increasing its leverage at the table.

Local 17’s previous contract expired in January but remains in effect as negotiations continue.

If Delaware North workers stage a strike June 22, it would be the first of its kind at any Twin Cities sports stadium, according to the union.

– Michael Moore, Union Advocate editor

Filed Under: Organizing, Politics, Union Events Tagged With: , , , ,

Target Field workers ready to strike in push for $20 minimum wage

May 20, 2026 by

Devante Boyd is a food runner and member of Local 17’s bargaining team.

Concessions and other hospitality workers at Target Field have voted to authorize their bargaining team to call a strike, a decision could come as early as this week, the union warned today, after the employer brought “union-busting proposals” to negotiations.

The workers’ union, UNITE HERE Local 17, announced results of the vote May 4. Of members who participated, 81% voted to authorize the strike.

Local 17 represents about 500 workers at the Twins’ stadium who are employed by Delaware North Company. That’s nearly double the size of units that bargained previous contracts, as Local 17 succeeded last fall in organizing 200 new members who work in the facility’s premium restaurants.

With the stadium unionized “wall to wall,” Local 17 members are looking to make significant gains in their new contract. Their top demand is a $20 minimum wage this year, paired with significant annual raises in the future.

Devante Boyd, who runs food from concession stations to seats at Target Field, said he earns about $16 per hour now. He voted to strike to “prevent Delaware North from taking advantage of me and let them know that I am willing to advocate for my value.”

Workers also want job security, citing the stadium’s increased reliance on nonprofit volunteers to staff its concession stands. “We’re trying to keep people working and prevent those nonprofits from eroding more into our union spaces,” Local 17 organizer Theo Bilski said.

Members are fighting for a path to health care, too, with proposals that would create a partnership with other arenas in the Twin Cities to pool worker benefits.

Local 17’s previous contract with Delaware North expired in January, but it remains in place as negotiations continue.

Boyd, who serves on the bargaining team, said workers don’t want to strike, but they will if the employer fails to take them seriously at the table.

“We all have one thing in common, and that’s that if not for us, then Delaware North does not succeed,” Boyd said. “We’re making sure that the customers have a great experience.

“I like my job. I don’t want to have to leave because I can’t afford to work here.”

– Michael Moore, Union Advocate editor

Filed Under: Community, Organizing, Union Events Tagged With: , , , , ,

SEIU members strike at five Twin Cities nursing homes

April 20, 2026 by

Workers picket outside The Estates at St. Louis Park on Day 1 of the strike.

Picket lines went up at 7 a.m. today outside five Twin Cities nursing homes, as about 300 union members launched a 72-hour strike for fair wages and respect.

The bargaining units, represented by SEIU Healthcare Minnesota and Iowa, are in limited negotiations with the employers, under to a wage-reopener clause in their contract. But management has shown no interest in bargaining, union officers say.

“The employer came in with only one number, 2%, and walked out,” Executive Vice President Rasha Ahmad Sharif said during a press conference outside The Estates of St. Louis Park. “That was their last, best and final offer – immediately.”

The union has filed charges of bad-faith bargaining with the National Labor Relations Board.

On the picket line, union members said they felt stung by the employers’ decision to pay high-priced replacement workers from out of state rather than settle a fair wage increase with the workers who provide daily care to their residents.

“We get low pay and heavy, heavy, client (loads),” Juanita Campbell, a licensed practical nurse with 23 years of experience at the St. Louis Park facility, said. “And we don’t have enough staff. They don’t respect us.”

Juanita Campbell said workers’ pay doesn’t match the heavy client load at The Estates, where she has worked for 23 years.

In addition to St. Louis Park, Estates workers are on strike at Roseville, Fridley and Excelsior locations. Union members at Cerenity Senior Care at Humboldt in St. Paul also are on strike.

Striking workers plan to rally at the Capitol on Tuesday and return to their sites for picketing Wednesday. Supporters are welcome.

While employers in the nursing-home industry pinch pennies at the bargaining table, many are also bankrolling two lawsuits seeking to disband the state’s new Nursing Home Workforce Standards Board.

“It is frustrating that (employers) seem unwilling to support us while we care for residents,” Jared Mitiga, a registered nurse at St. Louis Park, said. “It felt like they slammed the door shut before we could even get started. It’s especially frustrating that they claim they can’t give wage increases when the industry is spending money on all this other stuff.”

– Michael Moore, UA editor

Filed Under: Organizing, Union Events Tagged With: , , , , ,

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

Filed Under: Organizing, Union Events Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Hospitality workers at MSP make gains after holiday strike threat

December 12, 2025 by

Victor Arreole, a line cook at Bottle Rocket, speaks during a press conference at MSP Airport.

Travelers passing through Minneapolis-St. Paul International this holiday season can congratulate the airport’s food service-workers on a new union contract that delivered the strongest economic gains for their bargaining unit in recent memory.

The victory for members of UNITE HERE Local 17 came after they voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike – and threatened to do it the week of Thanksgiving, one of the busiest travel times of the year.

The union’s bargaining team reached a tentative agreement with HMS Host on Friday, Nov. 21, and members voted to ratify the contract, with 98% support, the following weekend.

A multinational corporation, HMS Host is one of MSP Airport’s largest food and beverage operators, employing about 250 members of Local 17 at bars, restaurants and coffee shops in both Terminal 1 and 2, from Starbucks and Auntie Anne’s to Chili’s and The Wild Sports Bar.

Local 17’s previous contract with HMS Host expired in December 2024, but union members stuck to their economic demands as bargaining dragged on for over 12 months.

Kifle Habtemarian, a cook at The Wild Sports Bar, said workers in the bargaining unit felt strongly about locking in wage and benefit increases – even if it meant going on strike.

“Life is expensive now,” he said. “In the store, before I could pay $300 for two weeks and be good. Now it’s $500.”

A no-strike clause in the previous contract expired last May, freeing workers to leverage a strike as pressure on the employer to meet their demands.

And it worked, as cooks, utility workers and engineers in the bargaining unit – some paid as little as $15.98 previously – won historic wage increases in the new contract.

Tipped workers made gains too, including benefits that address the income they forego – their gratuities – when accessing paid time off.

The contract also introduces a tip line for airport fast-food workers and baristas.

And the new contract also improves airport hospitality workers’ benefits, providing them with access to affordable health insurance coverage for their dependents.

Victor Arreole, a cook at HMS Host’s fast-casual restaurant Bottle Rocket, said the gains made in the new contract were “a long time coming” for workers who have stuck with the employer during a challenging five years for the travel industry.

“We fought for more than a year to win back what we lost during the pandemic, and we’re finally getting the wages and benefits our families deserve,” Arreole said.

“This contract is going to change lives.”

– Michael Moore, Union Advocate editor

Filed Under: Organizing, Politics Tagged With: , , , ,

Still on strike, Starbucks union gains strength with organizing win in St. Paul

December 11, 2025 by

St. Paul baristas celebrate their successful union election at the Starbucks on West 7th Street. (@mnsbuxunited on Instagram)

Baristas at a Starbucks in St. Paul voted 18-1 in favor of forming a union with Workers United yesterday, as the union’s open-ended strike at over 130 cafés across the U.S. approaches the one-month point.

Workers at the Starbucks at 2525 West 7th St., near the intersection with Davern, filed for a union election Sept. 30, but the federal-government shutdown halted the National Labor Relations Board’s work, delaying the vote until Wednesday.

The organizing victory restores the number of Minnesota locations where workers have formed unions with Starbucks Workers United (SWU) to 14. Starbucks abruptly closed a unionized store at 300 Snelling Ave. S in September, giving workers just two days’ notice.

Union members at three Starbucks in the Twin Cities have joined the nationwide strike, according to a memo published by SWU. Workers have pledged to stay on strike until the company resumes negotiations over the framework for first contracts at its cafés.

The open-ended strike began Nov. 13, and baristas in St. Anthony were there for it, shutting down the store at 3704 Silverlake Rd. NE. They picketed along the busy street and held an afternoon rally in the parking lot, supported by dozens of community members and baristas from other stores.

Union members shut down the St. Anthony store on Day 1 of the nationwide strike.

Union baristas in Chanhassen began an open-ended strike at their store, located 190 Lake Dr. E, later that weekend. Workers at the Starbucks on the first floor of the Mall of American, near the rotunda, have since joined the strike too, according to SWU.

Anton Olson, an 11-year veteran of Starbucks who has worked the last five years in St. Anthony, said he and the two dozen other union members at the store were in the fight to win – as long as it takes.

“It’s a tough decision, but we have a bunch of people supporting us, and we’re supporting each other,” Olson said.

The easiest way to show support for Olson and other union baristas is to take the pledge at nocontractnocoffee.org. Striking baristas also welcome support on the picket line, with shifts and locations posted to an interactive map on the website.

And striking baristas plan to rally Dec. 20 at 2305 Fairview Avenue in Roseville, where workers voted to unionize in August 2022 but have not yet joined the strike.

In balloting that began Oct. 27, SWU members voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike, with 92% support from participating baristas across the country. But each unionized store is a unique bargaining unit, which decides on its own when – and whether – to join the strike.

SWU represents over 11,000 baristas at about 550 Starbucks locations nationwide.

SWU and the company announced an agreement in February 2024 to begin negotiating a framework contract on the national level, making it easier for workers to settle a first contract on the local level.

That process resulted in key gains, union members say, but talks have stalled since Brian Niccol became CEO in September 2024. The two sides entered mediation earlier this year, but in the six months leading up to the strike, Starbucks refused to offer new proposals in response to workers’ key demands.

Striking baristas and supporters picket in St. Anthony.

Those demands include better staffing, higher pay and resolution of hundreds of unfair labor practice charges from bargaining units across the country.

Lorelei Lind, who works at the Fairview Avenue location, said Starbucks has made “unlawful changes” to its policies without consulting baristas’ union — “limiting our dress code, targeting partners with piercings, denying customers access to free water.”

“I have seen partners – experienced partners – belittled, their opinions ignored and their experience undermined,” Lind added.

In failing to consult with its workers, Niccols and other executives ignored safety, customer-satisfaction and other concerns, St. Anthony union member Foren Lee added.

“Time and time again, we have reiterated our demands to Starbucks,” Lee said. “Time and time again, we have received nothing in return but unfair labor practices, ever-changing [and] unlawful policy changes, two-day-notice store closures that laid off thousands of baristas, and a menu that increasingly grows less and less simplified.”

Baristas know that won’t change without a union contract, and they won’t get it without solidarity.

“Four years of time has seen it proved that a contract will not be given to us,” Lind said. “We must fight for it.”

– Michael Moore, Union Advocate editor

Filed Under: Organizing, Union Events Tagged With: , , , ,

Providers at Allina clinics, urgent cares plan one-day strike Nov. 5

October 24, 2025 by

Allina doctors held informational picketing outside the West St. Paul clinic in June 2025.

The union of over 600 primary care providers at Allina Health clinics and urgent cares will hold a historic, one-day strike Nov. 5 unless negotiators make significant progress in two bargaining sessions scheduled before then.

The strike would be the largest among private practitioners in U.S. history, according to Doctors Council – SEIU. It would impact services at 61 facilities across the Twin Cities area.

In a press call today, union leaders said Allina’s refusal even to bargain over several of their members’ key demands – pay and benefit guarantees, enough time to deliver quality care, adequate staffing levels in their clinics – drove the decision to call a strike.

“If we don’t do this, we’re looking at taking what Allina is offering,” Dr. Matt Hoffman, a family doctor at the Vadnais Heights clinic, said. “If we do that, we are going to see primary care continue to get worse at Allina.

“We love being doctors. We love caring for our patients. But we have seen so many of our colleagues leave primary care, so many burn out… We cannot let that cycle continue.”

Union members voted in June to authorize their elected leaders to call a strike if necessary, with over 90% support. In conversations since, Hoffman said, a “very strong majority” of members have pledged to honor the picket line.

“A lot of us are just at our breaking points collectively, and we feel like we have done everything we can to avoid getting to this point,” Dr. Nick VenOsdel, a pediatrician at the Hastings clinic, said. “The time to fight is now.”

The bargaining unit brings together doctors, physicians’ assistants and nurse practitioners who voted overwhelmingly to unionize with Doctors Council – SEIU in October 2023.

Since bargaining over a first contract began in February 2024, the two sides have met over 60 times and reached tentative agreements on scheduling procedures, a new mentorship program and labor-management committee, discipline language and safety protections.

But providers say they won’t settle for a contract that fails to address the factors behind increased burnout in their ranks, and they won’t go backwards economically while Allina’s executive pay continues to soar.

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. Providers are increasingly handling those tasks after work hours – in “pajama time,” Dr. Cora Walsh said.

“There’s not been a real recognition of how our work has ballooned over the last decade,” the West St. Paul provider added.

Doctors are also fighting for contract language that would ensure minimum staffing levels in their facilities – not only for themselves, but also for clinical assistants, nurses, lab workers and other positions outside their bargaining unit.

Allina recently sold off its lab facilities and cut X-ray services, and its plan to close four clinics Nov. 1 has already begun further straining the system – and patient care, Walsh said.

“We know what it takes to make primary care sustainable and provide the quality care our patients deserve,” Walsh said. “This is what we’re fighting for at the bargaining table.”

Barring a breakthrough in talks, Doctors Council plans to begin striking at 7 a.m. Nov. 5 and return to work at 7 a.m. the following day. The union will drive turnout to picket lines at three clinics: West St. Paul, Richfield and Coon Rapids.

“We do not want to be away from caring for our patients, to put our patients in that position,” Walsh said. “But this is what Allina has forced us to do to be sure Allina will be there for our patients.”

– Michael Moore, Union Advocate editor

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