Minnesota’s Walker Methodist Employees Win First Contract

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.afscme.org/publications/18212.cfm

May 2, 2008

After five long, difficult years struggling for justice, some 400 employees of Walker Methodist Health Center in Minneapolis can finally claim victory – their first contract!

Their new agreement, which runs through September 2009, was overwhelmingly approved in April by two separate bargaining units within Local 3532 (Council 5). The largest includes about 350 nursing assistants, food service employees, maintenance workers, housekeepers and activity aides. Some 60 LPNs, who make up the second group, voted on April 25.


VICTORY AT LAST! – After a five-year struggle, Walker Methodist Health Center workers Joan Evans, Nickson Nyankabaria and Nickson Kihima vote to accept their first contract.
Photo Credit: Jessica Hayssen

Nickson Nyankabaria, a restorative nursing aide as well as a member of the union’s negotiating team, was elated by the victory:

“I’ve been here since the beginning of the struggle, and I am happy for everybody. The contract will provide job security, which we’ve never had before. It will also give us a voice on the job.”

Contract highlights include a formal grievance procedure; a labor/management committee that will address staffing, scheduling and other issues; holiday pay and paid breaks, and a 1.12 percent wage hike, retroactive to October 2007, with further pay negotiations to begin this October.

The workers’ unwavering struggle to gain dignity on the job is recounted in this cover story in AFSCME WORKS and this story in Workday Minnesota.