New contract with 7 Allina hospitals sets $15 minimum wage improves benefits too! ($15 & a union) [View all]

[Omaha Steve]

Members of the SEIU Healthcare Minnesota negotiating team celebrate a new contract with Allina hospitals that includes a $15 minimum wage. Photo courtesy of SEIU

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http://www.workdayminnesota.org/articles/new-contract-allina-hospitals-sets-15-minimum-wage

By Barb Kucera, Workday Minnesota
April 17, 2015

MINNEAPOLIS
As thousands of low-wage workers and allies demonstrate this week for a $15 per hour minimum wage, SEIU Healthcare Minnesota members at Allina Hospitals ratified a new three-year contract that establishes a $15 per hour minimum wage for the first time for workers at seven hospitals across the Twin Cities region, including in Shakopee and Buffalo.

“At a time when more and more jobs are low-wage jobs that cannot even begin to support a family, our new contract shows that a $15 per hour minimum wage is possible because we achieved it for all of our members at seven hospitals,” said Paula Lindquist, a scheduling coordinator at Buffalo Hospital. “We are an example of the power of workers coming together to improve wages, benefits, quality of services and the future of our communities.”

“For lab assistants like me, this is our first union contract and I will see a $5 per hour raise to more than $15 per hour, and better benefits,” said Tigist Tefera of Abbott-Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis, whose job classification joined SEIU Healthcare Minnesota last year. “This will mean a better life for us and our families, and all workers deserve the same.”

The contract provides employment security protections as well as additional health and safety protections for workers. It includes a wage increase in every year of the contract for all members, an increase in Allina’s contribution towards the members’ pension plan, and a 25 percent increase in the amount of tuition reimbursement available to all members annually.

FULL story at link.