New nursing alliance holds 'silent march' on Mayo Clinic amid union push

Nearly 100 people gathered bright and early Monday morning outside of St. Mary’s Hospital in Rochester to kick off local support for National Nurses Week 2024.

The silent march from St. Mary’s campus to downtown Rochester was organized by the newly formed Med City Nurses Alliance, an independent advocacy group formed by resident nurses. Tiffany Lawler founded MNCA and helped lead the march alongside fellow nurses, local union leaders, and labor rights activists.

The group says that Mayo Clinic nurses are being overworked by having too many patients beds assigned to them during shifts, and also accuses the Mayo of depicting a false narrative that the pressure being placed on health workers elsewhere in the country is not happening in Rochester.

The ultimate aim of the group is to encourage local nurses to unionize for better working conditions.

"It’s the dawn of a new age where we are trying to empower nurses in a whole new capacity to bring public awareness to what is happening within our hospital walls," Lawler said.

“I think it’s not only important to draw attention to our local hospital and our situation but others. Others in rural areas and other places across the nation that don’t have the resources and reputation we have. And so I just want to call on people, a call to action that we need to get our nurses back to the bedside," she added.

The bargaining unit formed under MCNA comprises up to 6,500 nurses within Mayo Clinic’s Rochester campus. Around 4,500 nurses would meet the supermajority required to establish a union. MNCA is currently surveying these prospective members for their basis of interest in voting for a union or against it.

Adam Buzbee is an executive board member and the union representative for Rochester Public Transit with Amalgamated Transit Union 1005. Buzbee works in dispatch with RPT these days, but he spent 15 years as a driver bringing countless nurses to and from work at Mayo Clinic’s Rochester campuses.

“We are willing to do whatever it takes to help them and their journey to unionize,” said Buzbee. “We stand in solidarity and any support we can give them we’re willing to do.”

Alongside Buzbee and other ATU 1005 members, showing solidarity with Mayo Nurses was Shannon Barrett, a retired education professional and local labor rights activist.

“I was really excited to see so many locals out here, to see so many bus drivers, just to see so many different unions offering support was huge for me,” said Barrett. "In Rochester, we need to get our unions, our different locals more consolidated. As we see unionism grow, it’s just more important that we support each other."

“They came out because these are the people within our community that are already fighting for a difference in their workplace and who they represent,” said Lawler. “Having people willing to give up their morning, their routine, it just means so much as someone who’s been in this community since I was born.”

A statement was provided by Sherry Wolf, Chief Nursing Officer at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, following Monday morning’s march.

“Today marks the beginning of National Nurses Week,” said Wolf. “We are grateful for and support our nurses who play an important role in providing excellent care to our patients every day. We have many activities planned throughout the week to celebrate and thank our nurses. The public event this morning did not cause any travel delays for our staff or patients.”

MNCA will be hosting another virtual informational meeting for Mayo Clinic nurses on Thursday, May 9. There will be a Q&A session for interested members wanting to know more about MNCA’s efforts to unionize.