Doctors with Doctors Council SEIU at Allina Health have authorized a potential open-ended strike after 90% of members voted in favor amid stalled contract negotiations with the Minnesota and western Wisconsin-based provider.
The union previously authorized a one-day strike in November 2025, citing concerns about staffing, health care benefits, retirement and sick leave. In previous reporting, Dr. Matt Hoffman, a family and travel medicine specialist at the Vadnais Heights clinic, also said Allina had been planning to cut wages for most primary care providers.
Hoffman said the union of about 650 doctors is pushing for changes in three main areas.
First, the union is seeking relief from non-direct patient care work. Hoffman said doctors currently spend significant time handling phone calls, medical messages and test results in addition to patient appointments.
“And so people end up taking work home, and it really interferes with your time with your family,” Hoffman said. “So we have kind of some different proposals trying to figure out a way to alleviate that and basically give us a better work-life balance, have more time with our families.”
Hoffman said possible solutions could include dedicating four hours per week to administrative tasks and increasing paid time off.
The union also wants to preserve existing contract language covering leaves of absence, including policies for sick leave and paid family leave. Hoffman said the union is not seeking improvements to those provisions but wants them maintained in the new contract, which he said Allina does not currently support.
The third major issue is wages. Hoffman said clinician pay has not kept pace with inflation and the cost of living.
“We’re not fighting for big wage increases, but Allina is trying to cut some of our members’ pay, which we find unacceptable,” Hoffman said.
If a strike occurs, the approximately 650 doctors would take part in an unfair labor practice strike affecting 57 Allina clinics.
“It’s on the table for sure,” Hoffman said when asked about options ahead of a bargaining session scheduled for March 16. “We just had a really successful authorization vote, and I would say that it’s on the table. So we need to see what happens.”
Hoffman said the union hopes to see meaningful progress in the three major areas during negotiations and would prefer to avoid a strike.
“We do have to keep in mind that, if we’re going to strike, it better be because we think in the long run, this is going to improve patient care, and I think I feel very strongly that this is the case,” Hoffman said. “I think 90% of our members just said that they believe that that’s the case.”
Hoffman said Allina has resources to care for patients if a strike occurs, including managers who are physicians. Each clinic has at least one doctor in management who could cover emergency needs, he said.
Patients could also seek care at urgent care clinics or hospital emergency rooms during a strike, Hoffman said.
In a March 6 statement, Allina said it was disappointed that Doctors Council SEIU had again pursued a strike authorization vote among primary and urgent care physicians.
“We continue to negotiate in good faith toward a fair, sustainable agreement that provides competitive compensation and benefits for our providers,” Allina said in the statement. “Our commitment remains the same; supporting our providers while protecting access to affordable care for the patients and community we serve.”
Allina said negotiations are scheduled to continue at the next bargaining session March 16.