Doctors with Minnesota's Allina Health vote to unionize

Allina Health doctors have voted to unionize by a wide margin, after a vote closed this week.

The vote announced Friday, 325 for to 200 against, is only the beginning of the unionization effort. But members — doctors, nurse practitioners and physician assistants — say they hope their union could advocate for more support that would lead to better patient care.

"We just needed a seat at the table to be part of the decisionmaking," said Beth Gunhus, a nurse practitioner who works out of a Blaine clinic and was one of the lead organizers.

In a statement, Allina Health said they appreciated their providers.

"While we are disappointed in the decision by some of our providers to be represented by a union, we remain committed to our ongoing work to create a culture where all employees feel supported and valued," the statement read. "Our focus now is on moving forward to ensure the best interests of our employees, patients and the communities we serve."

The physician-led organizing campaign is the second involving Allina. About 150 inpatient doctors at Allina's Mercy Hospital in Coon Rapids took the initial steps to unionize in March. Both efforts involve the Doctors Council, a New York-based affiliate of the Service Employees International Union.

The Allina group would become the largest private-sector doctors union, according to Joe Crane, national organizing director for the Doctors Council.

Gunhus said organizing the archipelago of smaller Allina clinics has laid bare systemwide difficulties, especially around support staffing levels. Those problems predate the pandemic, but she said COVID made it clear for her that she needed to advocate for changes.

"If you look at what happened during COVID, our profession rose to the occasion and kind of committed a miracle," she said. "Now it feels like we don't have any support or any of the things we need to go back to day-to-day living."

The vote must be certified by the National Labor Relations Board and Allina would have to recognize the union before bargaining on a contract could begin. But Crane hoped bargaining on an initial contract could begin as soon as November.

"We just won back a voice we felt we had lost," said Nick VenOsdel, a Hastings pediatrician. Doctors have not had much recourse to raise concerns, he said, like a pileup of administrative work that takes doctors away from patients. He hopes the vote will be the beginning of broader changes in the health care system that put more weight on the decisions doctors and patients make together, and not on insurance companies and health systems.

"I hope we can make things better in our health care system and in our state," VenOsdel said.

Star Tribune staff writer Jeremy Olson contributed to this report.