10-day Notice Officially Filed with Mayo
For Immediate Release
Contact: Rick Fuentes
(o) 651-414-2863
(c) 612-741-0662
rick.fuentes@mnnurses.org
Barbara Brady
(o) 651-414-2849
(c) 651-202-0845
barbara.brady@mnnurses.org
(St. Paul) – December 8, 2017 – The Minnesota Nurses Association has officially filed a 10-day notice of intent to picket the Mayo Clinic Health Systems-Albert Lea campus alongside other healthcare workers and members of Service Employees International Union Healthcare Minnesota (SEIU) and their Unfair Labor Practice strike. Nurses will take to the areas around the Albert Lea hospital on Tuesday, December 19 at 6 a.m.
“We stand with our SEIU brothers and sisters as they work toward a successful resolution to this long and drawn-out battle for a ratified contract,” said MNA President Mary C. Turner.
SEIU workers filed for their intent to hold a one-day strike over Mayo’s refusal to give nursing assistants, housekeepers, and other building staff a fair contract that does not allow Mayo to change terms at will.
“Mayo isn’t a name or a building,” Turner said. “Mayo is the hard work of all these workers who deliver the quality patient care Minnesotans expect and deserve. Now give them what they deserve, which is a fair contract that respects their jobs and their families.”
Mayo has intimated that striking workers could be replaced with temporary workers for as long as a week if they go on strike, but nurses will continue to picket until all SEIU workers are permitted to return to work.
“Shame on Mayo for even suggesting a holiday without pay for these workers,” Turner said. “They’re exercising their rights as workers to hold a peaceful strike to win a fair contract.”
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