Doctors strike, rally for contract with Allina
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About 150 doctors at Allina Health’s Mercy Hospital in Coon Rapids and its Unity campus in Fridley began a four-day strike Monday after three years of failed contract negotiations.
Dozens of doctors and nurses rallied outside Mercy Hospital in a demonstration held by Doctors Council-SEIU, the union that represents the physicians.
The dispute has been building for some time between doctors and Allina Health. Physicians have been negotiating their first union contract for three years but have not been able to reach a deal. Union officials said Allina is offering less pay than the doctors currently make and is resisting demands for more physician control over decisions affecting patient care.
Doctors said they are increasingly frustrated as large health systems make decisions about staffing, services and patient care without enough input from the physicians who are treating those patients.
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Dr. Alia Sharif said physicians are eager for a union contract with Allina.
“We’ve reached a point where we want a contract, so we can go back to doing what we do best, which is take care of our patients,” Sharif said.
Allina said the two sides have made progress after about 50 negotiating sessions. But the health system says any contract has to account for rising healthcare costs.
“We will continue to work with both unions to reach fair agreements, but these negotiations cannot be divorced from the economics that are impacting both patients and healthcare systems,” said Allina Health in a statement.
Union formed after COVID
In 2023, Allina physicians voted to unionize after facing challenging conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic. The union said that long hours and difficult working environments during the pandemic motivated the doctors to organize. Allina contested the vote, leading to a delay in the federal certification of the union for almost a year.
Dr. John Wust, an OB-GYN at Mercy Hospital in Coon Rapids, said during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, physician input was excluded from business decisions that impacted patients. He said physicians want to preserve their autonomy in patient care and expressed concerns about the increasing influence of AI in electronic medical records.
“We have already seen AI starting to suggest diagnostic codes for patients, and we're concerned that it may start to suggest treatments. And physicians may be pressured by systems to maybe offer treatments that are based more on artificial intelligence than human intelligence,” Wust said.
Hospice nurses also striking
Allina Health is currently in multiple labor disputes.
Around 60 hospice nurses are taking part in a seven-day strike, which began on Friday. These nurses, who provide end-of-life care both in patients’ homes and in facilities, are advocating for higher wages, holiday pay and what they consider reasonable work schedules.
The labor dispute is occurring as Allina Health prepares for a merger with California-based Sutter Health. Last year, Sutter avoided a strike involving thousands of caregivers in northern California.
Hospitals are still operating during strikes
Hospital officials said patients should not assume their appointments are canceled. According to Allina, the hospital is asking other doctors to help cover the gaps.
“Doctors Council SEIU represents about 10 percent of the physicians credentialed to provide care at Mercy Hospital’s two campuses, and not all SEIU-represented physicians will be on strike,” the health system said in a statement. This includes non-union physicians who have hospital privileges.
Healthcare will continue at Allina during the strike along with scheduled procedures and surgeries. The health system said patients will be contacted directly if their appointments or procedures need to change.
