Nurses picket as Hazelden Betty Ford drags out first-contract talks

June 5, 2026 by

MNA members picket outside Hazelden Betty Ford’s facility in Center City.

Nurses bargaining a first union contract with the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation held informational picketing June 2 at the renowned addiction-treatment facility in Center City, looking to raise awareness of their safety and staffing concerns.

Members of the Minnesota Nurses Association had hoped Hazelden administrators would take a collaborative approach to addressing the issues behind their vote to unionize in January 2025.

But those hopes have fizzled over 16 months of mostly unproductive talks.

“A lot of things that we propose, they’ll propose back that they don’t need it to be written out,” Cara Bergner, a registered nurse in Hazelden’s detox unit, said on the picket line. “They just want it up to management’s discretion, which kind of defeats the whole purpose of the contract.

“I think their hopes are that if they put it off, we’ll get tired and give up. But I don’t see that being the case.”

Anne Coleman, another registered nurse in the detox unit, said nurses are bargaining for changes that will make their jobs more sustainable – and they’re doing it because they believe in the Hazelden Betty Ford mission.

“We take people in a crisis situation who, a lot of the time, come in very broken, and I just love to see them get their lives back, to get the confidence and light back in their eyes,” Coleman said. “I love to see them heal.

“We wouldn’t be here if we didn’t love the mission, the patients and the many things that Hazelden has done for the community and nationwide. But the healthcare system itself is broken, and, unfortunately, it’s trickled down to Hazelden.”

As the rate of violence against healthcare workers rises nationwide, Hazelden nurses are increasingly treating patients under the influence of highly potent drugs like fentanyl. Union members say de-escalation tactics, which they are trained to use when a patient becomes violent, are insufficient alone.

“We’re bringing in higher-acuity, more severe cases of people who have mental-health issues and severe addictions,” Bergner said. “We don’t have any other safeguards (besides de-escalation) and any true, straightforward protocols for staff members’ safety.”

In bargaining, nurses have floated proposals like round-the-clock security, panic buttons and minimum staffing levels. Some units, Bergner and Coleman said, have just one nurse on the floor at times, leaving staff overwhelmed.

Perhaps predictably, an increasing number of Hazelden nurses are leaving the bedside. Turnover has affected about a third of MNA’s 60-person bargaining unit of registered and licensed practical nurses, according to the union.

Coleman said factors behind the attrition include stagnant wages over the last two years, recent benefit cuts and management’s unwillingness to agree to measures that would make nurses feel safer and more supported on the job.

Newly hired nurses are leaving too. “They come here,” Bergner said, “and before they really get a love for the job, they’re like, ‘This space is crazy.’”

For nurses who remain, the turnover creates more short staffing and extends their shifts. Coleman said she has worked as many as 16 hours straight.

“I’m happy to do it because I want my patients to have the support they need and the safety,” she said. “However, it’s not sustainable.

“We’ve got so many experienced nurses who really, truly care for our patients that we’ve lost. All that we’re asking is for Hazelden to work with us.”

– Michael Moore, Union Advocate editor

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

Blissenbach: Aquatic plant removal bill honors memory of fallen workers

April 28, 2025 by

Minnesota Labor Commissioner Nicole Blissenbach speaks during local Building Trades unions’ Workers Memorial Day ceremony on the Capitol grounds.

From the first day on the job to the last, each and every worker, each and every shift, has the right to a safe and healthy workplace. Unfortunately, in Minnesota between October 2023 and March 2024, Minnesota OSHA (MNOSHA) investigated 10 workplace fatalities. We take time each April 28, Workers Memorial Day, to honor and remember all workers whose lives were cut short by a workplace injury, illness or disease.

Workers Memorial Day began in 1970 and, within the year, the first Occupational Safety and Health Act was passed, establishing federal OSHA. That first OSHA law – and every worker protection law enacted since then – has passed thanks to the power of the labor movement and concerned citizens, standing up to advocate for the right to a safe workplace and to protect working people.

Every year our agency meets with unions, businesses, trade organizations, medical professionals, workers’ advocates and individuals who share their ideas for improving worker safety. Our role is to listen, to learn from their experiences and to advocate for advancements in workplace safety laws and regulations.

This year I had the honor of meeting the parents of two young men who died in two separate workplace incidents while removing aquatic weeds in 2022 and 2024. I am grateful to these parents for their strength to fight for improved safety for employees who dive on the job.

After completing its investigations, MNOSHA’s compliance office issued citations to those employers for violations of the commercial diving standard. Earlier this year, the Minnesota Legislature introduced legislation designed to increase protections for workers using scuba-diving equipment to perform aquatic weed and plant removal. Called the Brady Aune and Joseph Anderson Act, the new legislation will align the efforts of MNOSHA Compliance and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources to ensure employers permitted to perform this work have formally trained and certified scuba divers and use required standardized equipment.

As summer quickly approaches, Minnesota employers performing aquatic weed removal at lakes across the state will be tasked with implementing requirements to protect workers using scuba-diving equipment as a result of this new legislation.

When employers follow required safety standards, have proper controls in place and make safety and health programs a priority, our brothers, sisters and siblings are safer and our state is stronger. On Workers Memorial Day and throughout the year, we must work together to make sure employers embrace safety and health as a core value in their operations so that every worker goes home safe every day.

All workers – no matter their age or experience – have a right to a safe and healthy workplace. When I came to work for the Department of Labor and Industry, I wanted to make a difference in the lives of workers across Minnesota. I joined a workforce of more than 600 dedicated people working in service to all workers of Minnesota, ensuring safety and health in the workplace is a right, not a privilege. It is now more important than ever to protect the rights that exist for workers while advocating to advance safer working conditions that will save lives.

– Nicole Blissenbach is commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry. Her column appears in the May 2025 issue of The Saint Paul Union Advocate.

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

After landslide union election, M Health psych staff ready to bargain for wages, safety

September 28, 2021 by

(SEIU photo)

A resounding “union yes” vote, announced today, gives 350 psychiatric associates at M Health Fairview momentum as they look to negotiate better wages, safety protections and a voice in decisions that affect their jobs.

SEIU Healthcare Minnesota, which backed the essential workers’ organizing drive and will represent them in bargaining, said 98% of participating workers voted in favor of unionization. Balloting took place by mail, with votes counted earlier today.

Psychiatric associates have been discussing the idea of forming a union for at least 10 years, union supporters said in a virtual press conference held hours before the vote tally. Eric Immler, who works in M Health Fairview’s adult inpatient units, said his excitement was “hard to put into words.”

“Having a seat at the table, feeling respected is going to allow me to better focus on my patients and collaborate with my co-workers – and [retain] good employees,” Immler said. “We hope Fairview comes into negotiations after we certify our union realizing how serious we are and in good faith.”

Like many workers forming unions recently, M Health Fairview employees said the COVID-19 outbreak gave their campaign a sense of urgency. Senior psychiatric associate Andrea Rivas described working in small, confined areas with patients who sometimes refused to wear masks, and uncertainty over access to personal protective equipment.

But Rivas and her colleagues also pointed to increasingly dangerous working conditions in their field. Health care workers account for the majority of all nonfatal workplace injuries in the U.S., and injury rates are highest among workers in psychiatric and substance-abuse facilities.

Rivas is still dealing with the effects of a concussion she suffered nearly eight months ago, when she was “punched repeatedly” after rushing to the aid of a co-worker who was being assaulted. Erin McCormick, who works at M Health Fairview’s intensive treatment center for children, said people in her line of work are “in constant fight-or-flight mode” and burn out quickly as a result.

“During my time, I’ve been head butted and spent the night in the ER,” McCormick said. “While I was pregnant, I also got punched by a patient. Luckily, I turned at the last second and the patient punched my arm, but I was constantly worried about my baby’s health.”

To reduce violent incidents, workers said, they will bargain hard for contract language that requires safe staffing levels and puts preventative protocols in place, both before and after violent incidents.

The fledgling unit also hopes their first contract not only will raise wages, but ensure equitable pay. During their organizing drive, McCormick said, psychiatric associates discovered a pay gap between men and women.

“Having an open conversation about pay and a contract where everything is formalized will help to address these issues,” she said.

SEIU Healthcare Minnesota already represents nearly 2,000 workers in the M Health Fairview system. Psychiatric associates will build their own contract, SEIU Healthcare Minnesota said, that addresses the professional needs of the “most patient-facing staff in the mental and behavioral health field.”

Rivas said she believes giving psychiatric associates a seat at the table will be good not just for workers, but patients too.

“We interact closely with patients during their entire inpatient treatment,” she said. “Despite our close contact, we are left out of important meetings, and our opinions aren’t asked about patient concerns. This not only feels disrespectful, but it also means we are missing out on important information that could affect our clients.”

“Mental health is so important, but our society doesn’t seem to value it or the work done to help support those in crisis,” McCormick added. “We’re joining together in our union to help show that our patients and this work is important.”

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