{"id":16294,"date":"2020-06-10T15:11:36","date_gmt":"2020-06-10T19:11:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/workersvoiceus.org\/2020\/06\/10\/essentia-health-workers-rally-in-duluth\/"},"modified":"2020-06-10T15:11:36","modified_gmt":"2020-06-10T19:11:36","slug":"essentia-health-workers-rally-in-duluth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/workersvoiceus.org\/es\/2020\/06\/10\/essentia-health-workers-rally-in-duluth\/","title":{"rendered":"Essentia Health workers rally in Duluth"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Honk4Healthcare3By RALPH HANSEN<\/strong><\/p>\n

Over 120 workers and community members swarmed the Essentia Health campus in Duluth, Minn., on June 1.\u00a0They came in cars and on foot to protest the proposed elimination of 900 health-care jobs.<\/p>\n

The heart of the action was a car caravan of about 60 cars decked out with the slogans, \u201cNo Layoffs at Essentia!\u201d and \u201cHonk for Healthcare Workers!\u201d These cars drove around and around the large campus, while zealously honking their horns. Dozens of other cars driving by joined in, dramatically amplifying the honking to the point at which it reverberated throughout downtown Duluth.<\/p>\n

At the same time, workers and supporters held informational pickets on the corners of the main streets that run through the campus\u2014holding signs and handing out handbills.\u00a0And just like with the passing cars, pedestrians in their overwhelming majority indicated support for the workers.<\/p>\n

Despite receiving almost $80,000,000 in federal aid, and already having several hundred workers on unpaid furlough, Essentia Health appears to have decided to use the excuse of the pandemic to conduct a major downsizing operation.\u00a0The company, which is far and away the largest employer in the region, is in the midst of building a new hospital, which has run into major cost overruns.<\/p>\n

In addition to this, the company has decided to use funds to buy an additional hospital in Moose Lake, Minn.\u00a0And the workers are paying the price.\u00a0Many departments are already seriously understaffed, since Essentia has been using attrition to reduce the workforce for some time.\u00a0Now, despite being in the midst of a pandemic, the company has decided to make far deeper cuts.\u00a0\u00a0Officially the company is claiming that it has to do this because of lost revenues, but in reality the drop in patient volumes has dramatically turned around in the past month.<\/p>\n

Because of all of this, workers are outraged.\u00a0To be a health-care worker laid off in the midst of a pandemic is not only absurd on the face of it, but to suddenly have to join the ranks of the uninsured, when health insurance is so crucial, is devastating.<\/p>\n

There are several unions at Essentia Health.\u00a0The June 1 action was organized by United Steelworkers Local 9460\u2014the largest union at the company, and the one that represents workers from the janitorial staff to the Clinical Assistants.\u00a0A number of other unions were present in solidarity at the action.\u00a0Local 9460 is planning additional actions in the weeks ahead, and just signed a billboard contract to challenge Essentia\u2019s narrative of these layoffs.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the layoffs are underway, making the stakes of this fightback campaign all the more dire.<\/p>\n

Photo: Jess Morgan<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By RALPH HANSEN Over 120 workers and community members swarmed the Essentia Health campus in Duluth, Minn., on June 1.\u00a0They came in cars and on foot to protest the proposed elimination of 900 health-care jobs. The heart of the action was a car caravan of about 60 cars decked out with the slogans, \u201cNo Layoffs […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13882114,"featured_media":15170,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[30835,30840],"tags":[30968,30978],"class_list":["post-16294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-care","category-labor-2","tag-duluth","tag-essentia"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"3.0.6","language":"es","enabled_languages":["en","es"],"languages":{"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"es":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false}}},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t