Resource

Democracy Denied at the Bedside: Union Avoidance in Minnesota’s Nursing Home Sector

This study reports on pro-union workers’ experiences during a multi-year, statewide organizing campaign in Minnesota nursing homes between 2021 and 2025. It draws on contemporaneous, repeated worker interviews in nursing homes, as well as a 2024 survey of the population of certified nurse aides (CNAs) working in the sector statewide, linked to administrative data on their employing facility’s characteristics. Drawing on interviews with workers involved in organizing campaigns, we document and characterize management strategies to resist worker unionization drives. In many cases, managers’ efforts to resist unionization pull them away from their usual responsibilities. Drawing on the 2024 survey of CNAs, we describe which types of nursing homes are more likely to engage in union avoidance tactics, and we find that workers are more likely to report union avoidance tactics in facilities with larger shares of resident care financed by public funds.

Resource type
Briefs, Reports, and Infographics

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