NLRB Says Mayo Clinic Workers Have Valid Complaint

December 19, 2016  
By Steven Wishnia and Neal Tepel

Washington, DC – The National Labor Relations Board said Dec. 9 that it will hold a hearing on SEIU Healthcare Minnesota’s complaint that the Mayo Clinic “failed to bargain in good faith” with maintenance workers at its facility in Albert Lea, Minn.

The decision means the board’s general counsel believes the complaint has enough merit for an administrative law judge to investigate it. The agency has not yet scheduled the hearing. The maintenance workers have been working without a contract for 18 months. “While I’m glad the NLRB General Counsel found in our favor, I really just wish Mayo would sit down and bargain fairly with us,” said Bill Johnson, who’s worked for the clinic for more than 30 years. SEIU Healthcare Minnesota has also filed a complaint about Mayo’s plans to outsource food service at its flagship clinic in Rochester, which the union estimates would cost the 350 workers affected more than $8,000 each in reduced salaries, lost pensions, and increased health-insurance costs. Read more