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To the Kaiser family, the issues behind the Minnesota Nurses Association strike at Allina Health and SEIU contract negotiations with the company aren’t difficult to understand. They are living them.
Patty Kaiser, a registered nurse in the substance abuse unit, is walking the picketline at Unity Hospital in Fridley.
Her son, Peter, is an environmental aide – more commonly known as a janitor – at Unity. His brother, Philip, has the same job at Mercy Hospital in Coon Rapids, another Allina facility.
Patty Kaiser has been a nurse since 1977, with a break for a few years as an administrator. That was an eye-opening experience, she said.
“It’s all about the profits,” she said. Though Kaiser helped the hospital make money, she said her performance was not appreciated, so she went back to direct care.
“I’m back with my fellow nurses, standing up for what I truly believe in,” she said.
Peter joined the staff at Unity three years ago and last year helped to organize nursing assistants, aides, technicians and other staff into SEIU Healthcare Minnesota. The union, currently bargaining its first contract with Allina, has run into a brick wall.
Peter and Philip Kaiser see it clearly because Philip works under a contract ratified last year between SEIU and Mercy Hospital. They both do the same job. Although Philip has only one year of experience, he earns more than Peter, he said. And the premium for his health insurance is about one-third of what Peter pays.
“The work that we do – it’s the same,” said Philip. “He should get paid as much as I do.”
It’s about money but “it’s also about respect,” Peter said. “I just want to be treated the same.”
They point to the fact that Allina Health has merged the operations of Mercy and Unity under one license and is eliminating duplicate services. Next year, according to news reports, Unity Hospital is to become “Mercy Hospital – Unity Campus.”
It’s a matter of simple justice, the Kaisers said.
“Why am I getting paid different from another Mercy employee?” Peter asked.