Union workers push for health care and insurance bills following coordinated strikes

After thousands of Twin Cities union workers went on strike last week, workers are pushing for changes at the Capitol — including public health insurance open to all Minnesotans and insurance for striking workers.

About 200 unionized health care, education and property service workers with the SEIU Minnesota State Council met with legislators Wednesday for an organized lobby day.

"I would make the case that over the last few years here in Minnesota because of the leadership of SEIU and our allied partners, we have maybe made more progress than we have in a generation around workers and union rights," said Gov. Tim Walz, who gave a speech to rallying workers before they headed to St. Paul. Statewide labor unions, including the SEIU Minnesota State Council, have endorsed Walz.

Although Walz didn't address specific legislation, he spoke broadly in support of better access to retirement benefits and higher wages: "And things like providing health care for everyone," Walz said. "I'm not concerned about what your status is, I'm concerned that your child can go see a doctor. That's what I'm really concerned about."

Much of the legislation SEIU members are fighting for is directly related to health care and insurance. Among those priorities: affordable health care for airport workers — who have yet to reach a contract — and unemployment insurance for workers on strike. The latter has been introduced in both the House and Senate.

"We think that if employers forced workers to go out on strike, that they should have the same access to unemployment insurance as if they were laid off or if any other circumstance," said Jamie Gulley, the president of the SEIU Minnesota State Council. "And so we're lifting up our voice to really advocate for striking workers to have the same rights to unemployment as everyone else who is out of a job."

Gulley said another priority for health care workers is expanding who is eligible to buy into the MinnesotaCare insurance program, which provides coverage for low-income Minnesotans.

They're advocating for the "MinnesotaCare Public Option" bill, which would expand a public health insurance option for all Minnesotans. The House Commerce Committee approved the bill in a public hearing Wednesday.

"As health care workers, we think that everyone should have access to affordable quality health insurance, and access to the care that we provide," Gulley said.

In an interview with MPR News on Wednesday, Gov. Walz said he's in favor of the public option for MinnesotaCare but isn't sure it could pass this year.

"I don't think it's fully fleshed out yet, and just to be candid, it's a cost," Walz said. "It's a cost analysis, and we're not in a budget year. And again, I feel a sense of urgency, but getting it done right is critical."

Tavona Johnson, a home worker and member of SEIU Healthcare Minnesota and Iowa, is advocating for that bill. She said when her husband was diagnosed with cancer, they had 12 weeks to secure health care for chemotherapy — or find $14,000. Her employer does not provide health care.

"We tried to gain access to health care insurance through the MNsure marketplace. The premiums were astronomically more than our mortgage," she said. "When he passed, we had drained our savings and retirement. And so there's nothing left for me. I just have to start over."

Early March, 4,000 commercial janitors ended a three-day strike and months of bargaining with a tentative contract, including an hourly wage jump from $18.62 to $20 and more sick days. St. Paul teachers averted a strike after reaching a tentative contract that followed a weekend of more than 40 hours of mediation. Nursing home and construction workers protested too.

The coordinated strikes had been in the works since October, when union members set a March deadline for change.

"Could we win together if all of our usual contract struggles as workers that are usually in different bargaining rooms, in different unions and different parts of the city. What would happen if we aligned those all to come to ahead in that first week of March? And could we win more?" said SEIU Local 26 President Greg Nammacher. "And I think the resounding answer is yes. All of us have won settlements much stronger than the ones that we would have won by ourselves."

SEIU Minnesota State Council President Gulley said contracts have not been reached for airport and nursing home workers, who will be back at the bargaining table.