Allina hospital doctors vote to authorize strike at Mercy and Unity hospitals

More than 130 unionized doctors at Allina Health’s Mercy and Unity hospitals are threatening to strike after negotiations over the past two years failed to produce an agreement with the health system giant on wages, benefits and working conditions.

“I hope this wakes up Allina,” said Dr. Saul Singh during a virtual news conference on Wednesday. “We need to see change.”

The doctors voted by a 90% margin to authorize a strike but have not yet determined when or for how long. They would need to provide the health system with 10 days’ notice before walking off the job at the hospitals located in Coon Rapids and Fridley.

The strike vote sends a clear warning to Allina Health, one of the state’s largest health systems with $6 billion in revenue in 2025, that doctors are willing to disrupt operations at two of its largest hospitals in order to secure a first labor contract.

Allina Health said in a statement it was disappointed the union chose to “engage in this tactic.”

“We have negotiated in good faith with the union to reach a first contract and have engaged a federal mediator. The physician union continues to seek unsustainable economic demands as well as an inefficient manual process to measure worked time,” the Allina statement said.

Hundreds of Allina doctors, physician assistants and nurse practitioners at dozens of primary and urgent care clinics held a one-day strike in November, believed to be the first by doctors in state history and the largest in U.S. history. The advanced care providers then voted to strike indefinitely this spring before reaching an agreement on a three-year contract.

The doctors at Mercy and Unity hospitals voted by a wide margin to unionize in 2023 with Doctors Council SEIU in a rare organizing drive by highly paid medical professionals. Allina unsuccessfully fought the certification of the union by the National Labor Relations Board, which oversees private-sector labor disputes.

Since then, the health system and the union have met for some 60 bargaining sessions.

The doctors are seeking cost of living adjustments after receiving no pay raises this past year as well as paid sick leave and a greater voice in decision making, including in the implementation of artificial intelligence. They also want Allina to dissolve its noncompete agreements, which the state Legislature banned for new contracts starting in 2023.

Doctors at Allina complain they’re overwhelmed by rising caseloads and mountains of paperwork, and increasingly feel like factory workers on an assembly line who are forced to rush through patients by far away bosses.

“Too often, we watch decisions that prioritize financial pressures over the needs of our communities and patients,” said Dr. Alia Sharif.

She noted service closures in her hospital, and patients having to spend more time boarded in emergency departments. Last year, Allina announced the closure of four Twin Cities clinic locations.

The strike vote comes as Sutter Health, a massive California system, seeks to acquire Allina in a highly scrutinized deal that would create a combined $26 billion system with 39 hospitals serving more than 5 million patients.

The unions representing doctors and nurses both oppose the deal, saying increased consolidation suppresses pay for workers and drives up costs for patients.