On St. Paul campus, strike takes toll on animal hospital, veterinary students

"Oh, yeah, it\’s business as usual," sneered striker Erin Lane, standing outside the prestigious animal hospital where she normally works as a certified veterinary technician. "Just go look in there."

The University of Minnesota Veterinary Medical Center is the crown jewel of this quiet St. Paul campus, which spills over from the city\’s northwest border into the suburb of Falcon Heights. It is the Mayo Clinic of animal hospitals, and it earned the school, for better or worse, its nickname: "the cow campus."

But when certified veterinary technicians like Lane, members of AFSCME Local 3937, traded their hospital scrubs for picket signs last week, operations at the hospital dwindled to a near halt.

Strikers say that\’s bad news not only for pet owners, but for veterinary students and the university\’s bottom line.

The hospital currently is accepting only emergency cases, and according to striking veterinary technicians, that means no routine appointments, no new chemotherapy patients and no animals who need major workups or surgery.

More, any pet admitted on an emergency basis must arrive at the university hospital, according to veterinary technician Darcy Farmer, with "catheters placed, blood drawn and x-rays taken."

Why? Because that\’s the work Farmer (who walks the picket line with a sign that reads "Who\’s watching your pet today? All the techs have walked away!") and her striking colleagues normally do.

It\’s also work certified veterinary technicians teach to the university\’s veterinary students.

One fourth-year veterinary student, who requested anonymity, said classes this year have been "a lot more difficult because they don\’t have the help that we need. We rely on the techs if we need help or have questions."

Darcy Farmer walked the picketline outside the university Veterinary Medical Center. The reverse side of her sign reads, "Who\’s watching your pet today? All the techs have walked away!" Union Advocate photo

On the picket line, strikers reported hearing from other students that the school had turned to upperclassmen to cover technicians\’ teaching responsibilities.

"Normally, certified veterinary technicians teach freshmen clinical skills like animal handling, injections and how to do basic things like blood draws," Lane said. "Apparently, they are ordering senior veterinary students to teach those labs.

"That\’s not appropriate. We\’re really disgusted by that. Our students are not paying to teach freshmen. It\’s not their responsibility. By the time they get to us in their senior year, we\’re still teaching them."

Veterinary technicians also questioned how much practical experience students could get working with live animals when the university\’s veterinary hospital is accepting only emergency cases.

"Students aren\’t learning as much because they don\’t have as many animals coming through," Farmer said. "Students are all going to have to share (animals), and it\’s going to decrease the quality of their education."

Limiting admissions also decreases the flow of revenue into the animal hospital, which can\’t be good for the university\’s bottom line.

But on the picket line outside the hospital, striking veterinary technicians are more concerned about their students, their patients and, of course, their own sources of revenue.

"None of us can afford to bring our pets to the university\’s hospital because we make so little," Farmer said. "But we love our jobs."

Said Lane: "It\’s weird to come here like normal every day and then just stand here outside the hospital."

In other words, it\’s anything but business as usual.

Reprinted from The Union Advocate, the official newspaper of the St. Paul Trades and Labor Assembly. Used by permission. E-mail The Advocate at: advocate@stpaulunions.org 

Visit the Workday Minnesota special section on the U of M strike