Doctors Council - SEIU

For Immediate Release

Contact: Jay Dean, Doctors Council, JDean@doctorscouncil.org or Josh Keller, SEIU, jkeller@seiumn.org

Historic Agreement: Allina and Doctors Council - SEIU Reach Tentative Agreement Late Wednesday on First Union Contract for Largest Private Sector Provider Union in the Country

MINNESOTA — After more than two years at the bargaining table, the bargaining teams for Doctors Council - SEIU and Allina Health reached a tentative agreement (TA) late Wednesday evening for a historic first union contract. The 3-year agreement, which covers over 600 Allina doctors, physicians’ assistants, and nurse practitioners who provide Primary and Urgent Care, comes four years after the group kicked off their efforts to unionize.

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In addition to over 60 bargaining sessions, this TA follows a one-day Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) strike last November. That strike impacted 90% of Allina clinics, showcasing the group’s unity in winning an agreement that supports providers and patients. The Union believes it was the largest strike of its kind in the country’s history. Providers voted in March to authorize a longer term strike if they could not reach an agreement.

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Katherine Oyster, MD, Family Practice OB at Allina Cottage Grove and member of the Doctors Council - SEIU bargaining team, shared the group’s excitement over the agreement and the gains won for providers and their patients:

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“This hard-fought tentative agreement gives us protections - in writing - we could only dream about when starting the process to unionize nearly four years ago. This contract goes a long way to help us provide the care we know our patients need and provides sustainability to a career plagued with burnout. This agreement will keep quality providers at Allina and help our community.”

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The full TA is being shared with members and full details aren’t public at this point, but highlights of the agreement include:

• Increased autonomy for providers including more control over their own lives and policies that affect patient care.
• Safety improvements to protect healthcare providers, staff, and patients.
• Fair pay and protections around parental leave, medical leave, and family leave.
• And many more steps forward.

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Britta Kasmarik, FNP at Allina Bloomington Clinic and member of the Doctors Council - SEIU bargaining team, shared the group's pride in winning this agreement, which included a wildly successful ULP strike last November:

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“It has been a long fight over the last two years as we’ve worked to improve the care we provide to our patients. We formed the largest private provider union in the country and went out on a historic strike, and this is just the beginning of providers taking back our industry from healthcare executives. I’m so proud of our work to improve providers' well being and the sustainability of primary care.”

The group won their union in October of 2023, becoming the largest private-sector providers union in the country and they started bargaining in February of 2024. The tentative agreement (TA) will now go to the union membership for a ratification vote. Voting is expected to happen over multiple days starting next week.

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Doctors Council unites doctors, patients, and the communities we serve, advocating for quality, affordable health care for all. We are frontline doctors from New York to Illinois to Minnesota and Wisconsin, working together in hospitals, clinics, and in public health, to achieve the highest standards in quality and working conditions, to win safer staffing levels, and empower doctors to do what we do best—caring for our patients.

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