Dozens of Essentia Health workers picket Duluth campus over recreational therapist changes

Dozens of United Steelworkers Local 9460 members picketed outside the main entrance of Essentia Health–St. Mary’s Medical Center on Second Street in downtown Duluth during a two-hour informational action held Monday, March 2, from 4 to 6 p.m., to protest a planned reclassification of recreational therapist roles within Essentia’s behavioral health units. The union framed the change as an immediate threat to specialized mental health positions that provide programming for child, adolescent, and adult patients.

Susan Wagner, president of USW Local 9460 Duluth Chapter, told picket organizers that the change would mischaracterize the work of recreational therapists. “They’re asking them to be behavioral health techs and that is a very different job than they are trained to do,” Wagner said, and she urged Essentia to protect incumbents through a phased approach. “We have suggested many things, the main thing is grandfathering recreational therapists in and adding some of their jobs to the behavioral techs and phasing them out, instead of just cutting them out like this,” Wagner said.

Essentia Health responded with a written statement saying the system is “transitioning recreational therapists into related behavioral health technician (BHT) roles at Essentia Health-Duluth” as a staffing measure. The health system said the change “will impact the equivalent of five full-time positions and does not involve layoffs or reductions in pay,” adding the move is “designed to ensure more consistent staffing, so our patients and colleagues have the support they need” and that it is “moving through this process in accordance with our contract.”

Staffing details reported by the employer and union show a potential disconnect: Essentia’s numbers equate the transition to about five full-time equivalents, while the system noted there are roughly 10 recreational therapists on the roster and most are part time. The union has characterized recreational therapists as “highly educated and trained mental health professionals that play a crucial role,” and it warns that converting those roles into BHT positions could reduce specialized therapeutic programming that patients rely on.

Union members have escalated the dispute by filing charges with the National Labor Relations Board challenging Essentia’s restructuring plans. The NLRB filings have not been detailed publicly, and neither the union nor Essentia has released contract language or job descriptions showing how recreational therapist duties differ from behavioral health technician duties under the Duluth bargaining agreement.

The informational picket in Duluth comes amid broader labor friction across the Essentia system. Workers from Essentia Health–Deer River who were on an open-ended strike traveled to Duluth for a solidarity action earlier this year, and more than 2,600 nurses and clinicians in the region have staged or planned informational pickets in recent months over staffing and safety. Those actions underscore persistent workforce tensions that hospital leaders say they hope to address through staffing changes and union leaders say require stronger protections for trained mental health professionals.

With NLRB charges filed and talks ongoing, the immediate local consequence is unsettled staffing in child/adolescent and adult behavioral health units at Essentia Health–Duluth. Both sides signaled continued engagement: the union pushed for grandfathering and phased adjustments, and Essentia said it respects the informational picket and will proceed under the contract while pursuing the transition it says will stabilize staffing.