Hospital workers vote on new labor contract

by Lorna Benson, Minnesota Public Radio

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Health care workers will vote today and Wednesday on a new labor contract with eight metro-area hospitals.

Union leaders representing about 3,500 nursing assistants, food service workers, clerks and maintenance and warehouse staff reached a tentative agreement with the hospitals last week. The Service Employees International Union said it would not disclose terms of the agreement until its members had a chance to review the agreement and vote on it this week.

The union's previous contract with the hospitals expired Feb. 28. The new agreement temporarily averts a strike authorized by union members.

Voting takes place today at North Memorial, Bethesda and Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota in St. Paul and Minneapolis. Union members who work at Methodist, St. John's, and Fairview's Riverside and Southdale Hospitals will vote Wednesday.