Walker Methodist Health Center Workers Demand Justice

January 01, 2006

Walker Methodist Health Center staff and community activists are united in their struggle to ensure justice for its workers and quality care for residents of the nursing home.
PHOTO CREDIT: Jennifer Lovaasen

Walker Methodist Health Center workers, labor volunteers and members of the faith community canvassed south Minneapolis Sunday in support of their ongoing unionizing struggle at the nursing home.

The nursing home workers voted to join AFSCME Council 5 nearly four years ago, but delays by management have blocked their right to bargain for decent wages, benefits and working conditions. 

“We are fighting for better treatment at work,” says Tracy Plante, an LPN at Walker Methodist Health Center.

To put community pressure on the employer to abandon its appeals to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the volunteers went door to door asking neighbors to sign a petition and post a lawn sign urging Walker management to negotiate in good faith. They collected more than 300 signatures and secured 60 sign locations.

“We’ve had a tremendous amount of community support. It’s difficult to go to work in a hostile environment, but knowing there are so many people out there with us makes things a little easier,” Plante explains.