More than four months after mental health workers took picket lines at M Health Fairview and Alina hospitals, they are planning to strike again.

The states of Minnesota and Iowa at SEIU Healthcare have filed notices of strikes beginning Monday, Oct. 3.

Kelly Benson, senior mental health coordinator at Abbott Northwestern University, said:

She explained that she was part of the union’s negotiating team and was promoting improvements in safety, including raising the level of staff.

“We are understaffed, which can lead to care issues,” says Benson. “To safely care for patients in wards and those in distress when there are people who have very serious problems, are in difficult situations and may be behaving violently or aggressively. You can not.”

A mental health worker hit a picket line in May and is now planning to quit his job again (KSTP).

Community trauma during the pandemic has resulted in more patients and more acute cases, Benson said.

Trade unions argue that wage increases are also a key factor in meeting demand.

“Higher salaries qualify more people to enter the field to raise the level of staff,” she said. “Right now, it is not sustainable to continue doing this job.

In a statement, the health system said: Since the union chose to join the union, we have negotiated in good faith with her 18 times. On average, it usually takes him over a year for the newly formed negotiating unit to reach agreement on its first contract. This week and he said there will be additional negotiating sessions throughout October that will allow both parties to reach an agreement and avert a strike that failed to advance discussions in his May when the SEIU first put its employees on strike. will do so.

Through negotiations, Allina Health has offered economical packages that offer competitive compensation and additional benefits. She also provided the same language that the union agreed to on behalf of her other Allina Health employees regarding workplace safety. Hitting doesn’t benefit anyone. But even if we don’t reach a settlement, we stand ready to continue to care for our community. ”

M Health Fairview said in a statement: Over the past nine months, we have negotiated in good faith with our unions to reach agreements that provide the flexibility we need to support our employees and provide the highest quality care to our patients. We have made great progress, including reaching an agreement.

Healthcare institutions across the country are in the midst of double staffing and a mental health crisis. We will continue to negotiate in good faith with our colleagues and enter into contracts that we believe are fair and just for all parties. Safe patient care is our top priority and we are currently working on a contingency plan. If no agreement is reached by next week, care will continue to be provided in the inpatient mental health unit.

The planned three-day strike is set to begin three weeks after nearly 15,000 Minnesota Nurses Association members were out of work for three days. The MNA strike affected seven of his health care systems statewide, including Allina and M Health Fairview.

Labor historian Peter Raclev said, “I think we’re really seeing something new: strikes that aren’t focused on causing economic damage or pressure on employers. “These strikes are really protests or demonstrations, calling on the public to pay attention to what is going on.”

He notes that he has seen several industry frontline workers organized in the past two years, from hospital workers to grocery store employees to baristas to railroad workers. To do.

“This year has been a particularly active year both in terms of organizing and hitting,” Raclev said. “The pandemic has created a kind of stress that has made people’s jobs more difficult and stressful. On the other hand, the pandemic has revealed deeper and longer patterns.”

Giving the example of a railroad worker, he says: premium. […] The pandemic made it feel like a crisis rather than something we had to endure with clenched teeth. ”