Contract talks between state, PCA union halted
Further contract negotiations are on hold between state officials and a union for thousands of Minnesota personal health care attendants while an effort to disband the union plays out.
The Bureau of Mediation Services on Monday ordered a halt to discussions on wages, hours and working conditions pending a push by union opponents to pull away from the Service Employees International Union.
Doug Seaton, an attorney for those trying to disband the union for workers who care for the disabled or elderly in home-based settings, said bargaining on a new contract should not have begun. The current contract is due to expire in July.
"This is unusually early that it happened in the case of the PCA bargaining unit, which has made us suspicious all along," Seaton said. "And so it's maybe particularly pointed here that they have told them they have to stop bargaining."
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SEIU Healthcare Minnesota members say they are on the same timeline as the previous round of negotiations that resulted in the current contract.
"This is the latest in a series of their attempts -- all of which have failed -- and again it does nothing to address the fact that too many seniors and people with disabilities are not able to receive the care they deserve because of the low pay and lack of benefits and training facing home care workers," said Sumer Spika, a home care worker and SEIU executive board member. "When this fabricated attempt to stop us is denied, as we expect, we will still be here doing what we have been doing all along: actually trying to find a real solution to the care crisis in Minnesota."
A drive for a union decertification election is still under way. The people seeking to undo the union must get cards from 30 percent of the eligible voters covered by the bargaining unit. There are as many as 27,000 in this case.
Bureau of Mediation Services Commissioner Josh Tilsen said Tuesday the stand-still order is typical. His agency was sending another order Tuesday to state managers to produce a list of those potential union election voters.
"That next step would be to issue an election order. If there's not 30 percent, we would dismiss the petition but give the petitioner a fixed time to put in additional cards," Tilsen said.
The fight over the union has dragged on for years, predating a law change by the Legislature that allowed the care attendants to organize.