HealthPartners may face strike. Union calls for vote Thursday over failed contract talks.

Feb. 3--A Twin Cities union is threatening a week-long strike after contract negotiations over healthcare stalled this weekend.

The Service Employees International Union Healthcare Minnesota (SEIU) representing 1,800 members will hold a vote Thursday to strike if they cannot come to an agreement with HealthPartners, a nonprofit health care provider and health insurance company headquartered in Bloomington.

"For four months management has refused to move off their demand to roll back healthcare for 1,800 caregivers and our families," said Kate Lynch, 31. She is a licensed practical nurse at HealthPartners and is on the bargaining team. "We are voting to strike because we know if a rich healthcare corporation like HealthPartners, who made $7 billion in revenue last year, can cut our care, it will move our whole state backwards."

The months-long negotiations culminated in a 14-hour session Friday and Saturday over a contract that expired Feb. 1.

According to SEIU, the sticking point is health benefits for 80 members, which the union said HealthPartners is cutting back. The members are nurses, dental assistants, CMAs, nurse practitioners and midwives.

HealthPartners said their demands are fair, but did not disclose the details of their offer.

"We remain committed to returning to the bargaining table in the days ahead as we continue to work to reach agreement on a new contract that's fair to our SEIU-represented colleagues," the company said in a statement Monday. "We're proposing a set of modifications that would support better health and encourage our colleagues to get care in high-quality, more affordable settings. We feel that these are fair and reasonable modifications, especially given the financial headwinds facing the health care industry, including our organization."

The SEIU bargaining team is calling for a vote to authorize a seven-day Unfair Labor Practices strike. The vote is set for Thursday and the results will be announced Friday at 10 a.m. outside the HealthPartners Neuroscience Center in St. Paul.

If the union gets the go-ahead, it is required to give a 10-day notice before striking.

"When health workers have to potentially go on strike to guarantee access to quality health care, you know our healthcare system is broken," said Phillip Cryan, the union's executive vice president.

Healthcare has been an issue in other high-profile contract negotiations regarding nurses in the Twin Cities. In June, the nurses' union and Children's Hospitals of Minnesota reached a three-year contract which prevented a strike.

In October 2016, Members of the Minnesota Nurses Association voted to approve a contract with Allina Health after a six-week strike.

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